LIBRARY 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 
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jHtUtilelJur^  College 


CENTENNIAL  ANNIVERSARY 
1800— 1900 


^  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

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l800  IQOO 

A    RECORD 


Centennial  i^nnit^ersiatg 


MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 


or  THE     ^ 


PRINTED   FOR  THE  COLLEGE 
BY   THE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON  (Inc.) 
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CONTENTS 

Portrait  of  President  Atwater  (1800- 1809)    .     .  Frontispiece 

Sketch  of  the  Centennial:  Page 

Committees i 

Official  Programme .  2 

Invited  Guests  in  Ati-endance 12 

Sunday f  July  First 
Morning  Service  : 

Baccalaureate  Sermon  by  President  Brainerd  .     .  16 
Evening  Service  : 

Anniversary  Address  by  President  Boardman    .    .  32 

Monday^  July  Second 

Class  Day  Exercises 2 

Baseball  Game 2 

Parker  and  Merrill  Prize  Speaking 2 

Tuesday,  July  Third 

Commencement  Exercises       5 

Dedication  of  the  Egbert  Starr  Library: 

Address  by  Professor  Kellogg 81 

Hymn  by  Professor  Wright 6 

Wednesday y  July  Fourth 

Educational  Conference.     Addresses: 

President  Rankin 103 

President  Murkland 112 

President  Carter 126 

President  Buckham 142 

President  Tucker ,»          ....  154 

The  Roman  Drama 166 


116722 


VIU  CONTENTS 

Thursday^  July  Fifth 

Centennial  Services  :  Page 

Oration  by  Professor  Howard 183 

Poem  by  Professor  Higley 216 

Hymn  by  President  Rankin 8 

Conferring  of  Degrees 9 

The  Luncheon.     Speeches  : 

Governor  Smith 224 

Professor  John  H.  Wright 227 

Rev.  Cornelius  L.  Kitchel 232 

President  Buckham 236 

President  Carter       240 

Rev,  Dr.  Winslow 244 

President  Snow 248 

Rev.  Dr.  Sunderland 251 

Rev.  Dr.  George  N.  Boardman 256 

President  Hamlin 263 

Mr.  Capen 263 

General  McCullough 268 

Rev.  Dr.  John  C.  Labaree 272 

Rev.  Dr.  Holmes 273 

Colonel  Walker 274 

Mr.  Gifford .  276 


Alumni  Register 279 

Index 289 


MIDDLEBURY    COLLEGE 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  CENTENNIAL 

THE  purpose  of  this  volume  is  to  preserve  the 
formal  utterances  of  the  centennial  anniversary. 
That  they  may  be  given  their  proper  setting, 
however,  the  various  addresses  are  prefaced  by  this  run- 
ning account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  week. 

Two  committees  cooperated  in  preparing  for  the  cele- 
bration. The  one  appointed  on  behalf  of  the  Trustees  con- 
sisted of  President  Ezra  Brainerd,  '64;  Dr.  Henry  H.  Vail, 
'60;  Hon.  James  M.  Slade,  '67,  (died  Sept.  13,  1899); 
Dr.  James  L.  Barton,  *8i  ;  Professor  William  W.  Eaton. 
That  appointed  on  behalf  of  the  Alumni  consisted  of 
Hon.  John  W.  Stewart, '46;  Dr.  Charles  M.  Mead, '56; 
Professor  Edwin  H.  Higley,  '68 ;  Professor  Walter  E. 
Howard,  '71  ;  Charles  M.  Wilds,  Esq.,  '75  ;  William  H. 
Button,  Esq.,  '90.  From  these  committees.  President 
Brainerd,  Professor  Eaton,  and  Professor  Howard  were 
chosen  to  serve  as  an  executive  committee.  The  following 
additional  committees  were  appointed  from  the  Faculty: 
on  Transportation  and  Entertainment,  Ernest  C.  Bryant, 
'91 ;  on  Decoration,  Edward  A.  Burt ;  on  Music,  Theodore 
Henckels ;  on  Luncheon,  William  W.  McGilton  ;  on  the 
Roman  Drama,  Myron  R.  Sanford  ;  on  Printing,  Charles  B. 
Wright. 


2  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

The  official  programme  for  the  five  days  of  the  anniver- 
sary was  as  follows ;  — 

Sunday,  July  ist.     Baccalaureate  Sunday. 

10.45  A.  M.  Baccalaureate  Services  in  the  Congregational  Church. 
Sermon  by  President  Ezra  Brainerd,  LL.D.,  '64.  Subject : 
"  Our  Indebtedness  to  the  Past." 
8.00  p.  M.  Anniversary  Services  of  the  Christian  Associations  of 
the  College  in  the  Congregational  Church.  Mr.  J.  Earle 
Parker,  '01,  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, will  preside.  The  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Boardman, 
D.  D.,  LL.D.,  '51,  President  of  Maryville  College,  will  de- 
liver the  address.  Subject :  "  The  Contribution  of  the  First 
Century  of  Middlebury  College  to  Christian  Progress." 

Monday,  July  2d.     Undergraduate  Day. 

10.30 A.M.  Class  Day  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1900  on  the 
College  Campus. 

3.00  p.  M.  Preliminary  Meeting  of  the  Associated  Alumni  in  the 
College  Chapel.  The  chief  object  of  this  meeting  will  be 
the  appointment  of  committees  to  report  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  Tuesday. 

4.00  p.  M.  Game  of  base  ball  on  the  Athletic  Field  between  the 
Alumni  and  the  Students  of  the  College. 

8.00  p.  M.  Merrill  and  Parker  Prize  Speaking  in  the  Congrega- 
tional Church. 

Tuesday,  July  3d.     Commencement  Day. 

8.30  a  m.  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Associated  Alumni  in  the  Col- 
lege Chapel. 
10.00  a.  m.  The  Trustees,  Faculty,  Alumni,  and  Students  will  form 
on  the  Campus  and  go  in  procession  to  the  Congregational 
Church.  Seats  will  be  reserved  in  the  Church  for  all  in  the 
procession. 


A   SKETCH   OF   THE   CENTENNIAL  3 

10.30 A.M.  Commencement  Exercises  in  the  Congregational 
Church.  No  one  will  be  admitted  without  ticket  until  the 
procession  has  been  seated. 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  Vermont  Beta,  Phi  Beta  Kappa, 
will  be  held  in  the  Lecture  Room  of  the  Church  at  the  close 
of  the  exercises. 
3.00  p.  M.     Dedication  of  the  Egbert  Starr  Library.    The  address 
will  be  delivered  by  Professor  Brainerd  Kellogg,  LL.D.,  '58,  ■ 
Dean  of  the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn. 

The  period  following  the  dedication  is  suggested  as  avail- 
able for  Class  Reunions. 
8.00  p.  M.       Commencement    Concert   in    the    Congregational 
Church. 

Wednesday,  July  4th.     Educational  Day. 

10.30  A.  M.  Educational  Conference  in  the  Congregational 
Church.  The  Rev.  Jeremiah  E.  Rankin,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  '48, 
President  of  Howard  University,  will  preside.  Addresses 
will  be  delivered  by  President  William  J.  Tucker,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  Dartmouth  College ;  President  Matthew  H.  Buck- 
ham,  D.D.,  University  of  Vermont;  President  Franklin 
Carter,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Williams  College ;  President  Charles 
S.  Murkland,  Ph.D.,  '81,  New  Hampshire  College  of  Agri- 
culture and  the  Mechanic  Arts. 

4.00-6.00  p.  M.     President's  Reception  at  his  residence,  to  which 
all  the   Alumni  and  Guests  of  the  College  are   cordially 
invited. 
8.00  p.  M.     A  Roman  Drama  in  the  Centennial  Building,  under 
the  direction  of  Professor  Myron  R.  Sanford. 

Thursday,  July  5tb.     Centennial  Day. 

10.30  a.  m.  Procession  from  the  College  to  the  Congregational 
Church.  The  Trustees,  Faculty,  Alumni,  and  Students  will 
assemble  at  the  Chapel,  and  the  Invited  Guests  in  the 
Egbert  Starr  Library. 


4  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

ii.ooA.  M.  Centennial  Services  in  the  Congregational  Church. 
Hon.  John  W.  Stewart,  LL.D.,  '46,  will  preside.  The  Ora- 
tion will  be  delivered  by  Professor  Walter  E.  Howard,  LL.D., 
'71,  of  Middlebury  College;  the  Poem  by  Professor  Edwin 
H.  Higley,  A.M.,  '68,  of  Groton,  Mass.  Tickets  as  on 
Tuesday. 

Conferring  of  Degrees. 

There  will  be  a  luncheon  in  the  Centennial  Building  at 
the  close  of  the  exercises.  Brief  addresses  by  Invited  Guests 
and  Alumni. 

8.00  p.  M.  Promenade  Concert  in  the  Town  Hall,  under  the 
management  of  the  Class  of  1900. 

The  programme  as  planned  was  carried  through  without 
variation  ;  the  detailed  account  here  given  includes  but  a 
portion  of  its  features. 

At  the  baccalaureate  services  of  Sunday  morning,  the 
sermon  by  President  Brainerd  was  on  John  iv.  38 :  "  Other 
men  laboured,  and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labours ;  "  at  its 
close  the  congregation  joined  in  the  hymn,  "  For  all  thy 
saints  who  from  their  labors  rest."  The  prayer  was  offered 
by  President  Cyrus  Hamlin  (1880-1885),  who,  vigorous  in 
his  ninetieth  year,  and  the  most  honored  guest,  was  re- 
ceived everywhere  throughout  the  week  with  the  enthu- 
siasm and  affection  due  his  distinguished  record  and 
delightful  personality.  The  sermon,  with  the  other  ad- 
dresses of  the  anniversary,  will  be  found  in  full  on  later 
pages. 

At  the  evening  services  of  the  Christian  Associations  of 
the  College,  Scripture  was  read  and  prayer  offered  by  the 
Rev.  James  L.  Barton,  D.D.,  '81,  Secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  The 
address  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Boardman,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  '5 1, 


A   SKETCH   OF  THE   CENTENNIAL  5 

outlined  the  contribution  to  Christian  progress  made  by 
the  College  during  its  century  of  existence.  A  choir  of 
fifty,  composed  largely  of  college  students,  sang  the  Hal- 
lelujah Chorus  from  "  The  Messiah." 

An  unscheduled  feature  of  Monday  morning  was  an  8.45 
chapel  service,  crowded  beyond  the  doors  and  conducted 
by  the  Rev.  Sylvester  B.  Partridge,  '61,  of  Swatow,  China. 

At  the  close  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Associated 
Alumni,  on  Tuesday  morning,  the  Trustees,  Faculty, 
Alumni,  and  Students,  headed  by  a  band  of  music  and 
marshaled  by  Col.  Thad.  M.  Chapman  and  his  aides, 
marched  from  the  campus  to  the  church,  the  procession 
being  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  College,  unless, 
indeed,  it  was  outnumbered  by  that  of  the  Centennial  Day 
following.  At  the  close  of  the  Commencement  speaking, 
degrees  were  conferred  upon  a  graduating  class  of  thirty, 
the  largest  senior  class  in  sixty  years.  The  master's  degree 
was  conferred  in  course  upon  two  graduates  who  had  ful- 
filled the  College  requirements  as  to  study  and  examina- 
tion ;  and  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  was  bestowed  on 
Mrs.  Sarah  Stoddard  Williston,  of  Northampton,  Mass., 
and  on  Mr.  Julian  Ralph,  the  journalist. 

At  three  o'clock  the  newly  completed  Egbert  Starr 
Library  was  dedicated,  more  than  five  hundred  people  over- 
flowing the  reading-room  to  listen  to  the  dedicatory  exer- 
cises. President  Brainerd  presided,  and  gave  the  history  of 
the  gift  that  had  made  a  library  building  possible.  The  Rev. 
G.  R.  W.  Scott,  D.D.,  '64,  conducted  the  devotional  ser- 
vices. The  address  of  Professor  Brainerd  Kellogg,  '58,  on 
**  Books,  their  Contents  and  Uses,"  was  a  presentation  of 
the  paramount  claims  of  literature  in  education.  At  its 
close  the  audience  joined  with  the  student  choir  in  singing 


6  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

to  the  air  of  Duke  Street  the  following  hymn,  written  for 
the  dedication  by  Professor  Charles  B.  Wright :  — 

The  sacred  aisles  of  praise  and  prayer 

Are  not  alone  Thy  temples,  Lord ; 
Within  this  portal  springing  fair 

The  treasures  of  the  times  are  stored  — 

The  garnered  wisdom  of  the  years, 
A  wisdom.  Lord,  not  ours  but  Thine, 

And  where  Thy  wondrous  thought  appears 
O  may  we  recognize  a  shrine  — 

A  hallowed  shrine  where  eager  youth. 

For  generations  yet  to  be, 
Shall  enter,  ardent  for  the  truth, 

And  seeking  truth  shall  learn  of  Thee. 

The  exercises  of  Wednesday  began  in  the  church  at 
10.30  A.  M.,  with  an  educational  conference.  All  taking 
part  in  this  conference  were  college  presidents.  President 
Jeremiah  E.  Rankin,  '48,  of  Howard  University,  presided, 
and  President  Rufus  C.  Flagg,  '69,  of  Ripon  College,  read 
the  Scripture  and  offered  prayer.  Five  papers  were  pre- 
sented :  the  introductory  address  of  President  Rankin  on 
"  Home  Life  and  the  Country  College,"  and  addresses  by 
President  Charles  S.  Murkland,  '81,  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire College  of  Agriculture  and  the  Mechanic  Arts,  on 
'*  The  College  and  the  Industries ;  "  President  Franklin 
Carter,  of  Williams  College,  on  "  Text-book  versus  Lec- 
ture; "  President  Matthew  H.  Buckham,  of  the  University 
of  Vermont,  on  "  The  Moral  Life  of  the  College ;  "  and 
President  William  J.  Tucker,  of  Dartmouth  College,  on 
"  The  College  Curriculum."  At  the  close  of  the  addresses. 
President  Rankin  expressed  to  the  speakers  of  the  con- 


A   SKETCH   OF   THE   CENTENNIAL  7 

ference  the  thanks  of  the  College  for  their  weighty  and 
suggestive  contributions. 

From  four  to  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a  reception 
was  tendered  at  their  home,  by  President  and  Mrs.  Brain- 
erd,  to  the  guests  of  the  College,  the  Alumni,  and  the 
entertaining  townsfolk. 

At  eight  o'clock,  the  Roman  drama,  "  Temporibus 
Hominis  Arpinatis,"  the  student  contribution  to  the 
centennial  festivities,  was  given  in  the  Centennial  Build- 
ing before  an  audience  of  more  than  a  thousand.  For 
the  splendid  success  of  this  presentation,  credit  is  due  to 
many.  The  faithfulness  of  the  students  in  labors  whose 
extent  the  uninitiated  can  hardly  appreciate,  should  be 
given  a  generous  recognition ;  and  the  work  of  others 
was  also  most  valuable.  The  guiding  spirit  of  it  all, 
though,  from  the  inception  to  the  close,  was  the  head  of 
the  department  of  Latin,  Professor  Myron  R.  Sanford. 
The  play  itself,  a  most  artistic  piece  of  work,  was  of  his 
own  devising,  while  every  detail  of  preparation  was  given 
his  personal  oversight;  and  since  the  drama,  unlike  the 
various  addresses,  cannot  be  preserved  in  the  present  vol- 
ume, it  is  felt  to  be  fitting  that  this  recognition  should  be 
accorded  to  the  rare  taste,  scholarship,  and  unwearied 
enthusiasm  that  for  one  memorable  night  made  a  dead 
past  live  again. 

The  illumination  of  the  campus  at  the  close  of  the 
drama,  while  simple,  was  of  rare  beauty,  long  lines  of 
lanterns  bordering  the  walks  and  stretching  out  across 
the  lawns  from  the  chapel  as  a  centre.  The  decorations 
throughout  were  dignified  and  impressive,  and  contributed 
much,  during  the  anniversary,  to  the  gala  appearance  of 
the  college  hill. 


8  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

At  10.30  A.  M.,  Thursday,  the  Trustees,  Faculty,  Alumni, 
and  Students  again  gathered  on  the  campus,  and  with  the 
invited  guests  went  in  procession  to  the  centennial  ser- 
vices at  the  church.  At  these  services  Hon.  John  W. 
Stewart,  '46,  the  senior  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
and  President  of  the  Alumni  Association,  presided.  With 
him  upon  the  platform  were  the  orator  and  the  poet, 
the  invited  guests,  those  who  were  to  receive  degrees, 
the  Trustees,  and  the  Faculty.  Prayer  was  offered,  with 
Scripture  reading,  by  the  Rev.  Richard  S.  Holmes,  D.D., 
'62,  after  which  came  the  singing  of  Luther's  hymn,  "  A 
mighty  fortress  is  our  God,"  by  the  centennial  chorus, 
and  then  the  oration  by  Professor  Walter  E.  Howard,  '71. 
The  poem  was  delivered  by  Professor  Edwin  H.  Higley, 
'68.  The  following  centennial  hymn,  its  words  by  Presi- 
dent Jeremiah  E.  Rankin,  '48,  and  its  music  by  Professor 
Theodore  Henckels,  was  then  rendered  impressively,  under 
the  direction  of  Professor  Henckels,  by  the  united  chorus, 
orchestra,  and  organ : 

Where  thy  familiar  spire  appears. 

Dear  Alma  Mater,  we,  to-day, 
Rise  up  to  crown  thine  hundred  years 

Of  patient,  wise,  maternal  sway. 
Each  pulse  the  wonted  landscape  thrills; 

The  same  the  valley's  graceful  sweep, 
The  same  the  strength  of  God's  green  hills, 

The  fields  of  gold  the  farmers  reap. 

Thy  founders  were  a  stalwart  race, 

Who  had  the  faith  to  do  and  dare ; 
They  laid  thy  corner-stone  with  grace, 

And  built  thy  walls  with  humble  prayer ; 
From  thrifty  domicile  and  land, 

To  fill  thy  halls,  their  offspring  sent ; 
The  heirs  of  yeoman  heart  and  hand  ; 

Home-ties,  their  joy  and  sacrament. 


A   SKETCH   OF  THE   CENTENNIAL  9 

In  all  earth's  climes  thy  work  is  known, 

Dear  Alma  Mater,  sacred  shrine  ! 
Thy  sons  thy  teachings  still  enthrone. 

Thy  daughters  call  their  laurels  thine. 
Or  East  or  West,  or  South  or  North, 

What  though  no  foot  the  path  have  trod, 
One  standard  marks  their  goings  forth, 

"  For  freedom,  virtue,  and  for  God !  " 

So -long  as  greets  the  earth  the  sun, 

As  Otter's  liquid  waters  glide. 
Still  be  thy  noble  office  done. 

Be  truth  and  grace  in  thee  allied. 
Thy  sons  among  the  good  and  great. 

Thy  daughters,  excellent  and  fair, 
In  home,  in  school,  or  church  or  state. 

The  world  give  welcome  everywhere. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  hymn,  President  Brainerd 
said :  — 

By  virtue  of  authority  committed  to  me  by  the  President 
and  Fellows  of  Middlebury  College,  on  this  memorable 
day  that  completes  one  hundred  years  of  the  history  of 
our  Alma  Mater,  in  the  presence  of  these  distinguished 
guests  and  of  this  large  assembly  of  Alumni,  I  am  about 
to  confer  the  highest  honor  which  the  College  can  bestow 
upon  men  eminent  for  learning,  culture,  and  service  to 
mankind. 

George  Thomas  Smart,  scholar  and  theologian. 

Henry  Woodward  Hulbert,  preacher,  and  scholar  in  ecclesi- 
astical history. 

Charles  Sumner  Murkland,  educator.  President  of  the  New 
Hampshire  College  of  Agriculture  and  the  Mechanic  Arts. 

Francis  Hiram  Seeley,  pastor,  exponent  of  devotion  in  the 
Christian  ministry. 


lO         MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

All  these  I  create  Doctors  of  Divinity,  and  bid  them 
enjoy  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  honors  which  are 
recognized  among  Christian  nations  as  belonging  to  that 
degree ;  and  I  direct  that  their  names  be  enrolled  as 
Honorary  Graduates  of  Middlebury  College. 

Henry  Sanger  Snow,  jurist,  patron  of  letters,  President  of  the 
Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn. 

Richard  Sill  Holmes,  scholar,  leader  in  ecclesiastical  work. 

Samuel  Billings  Capen,  leader  in  municipal  reforms,  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions. 

John  Griffith  McCullough,  jurist  and  orator. 

William  Rollin  Shipman,  scholar,  educator,  for  thirty-six  years 
Professor  of  English  in  Tufts  College. 

Matthew  Henry  Buckham,  teacher,  administrator,  President  of 
the  University  of  Vermont. 

Byron  Sunderland,  veteran  preacher,  beloved  pastor,  promoter 
of  Christian  philanthropies. 

All  these  I  create  Doctors  of  Law,  and  bid  them  enjoy 
all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  honors  which  among  civi- 
lized nations  are  recognized  as  pertaining  to  this  degree ; 
and  I  direct  that  their  names  be  enrolled  as  Honorary 
Graduates  of  Middlebury  College. 

The  anthem  by  Dudley  Buck,  "  In  Thankful  Hymns 
Ascending,"  was  followed  by  the  benediction. 

The  luncheon  in  the  Centennial  Building  followed  at 
2.30  p.  M.,  and  over  five  hundred  repaired  thither  at  the 
close  of  the  services  in  the  church.  The  sloping  floor  of 
the  playhouse  had  been  leveled  since  the  evening  pre- 
vious, and  seven  tables  stretched  the  length  of  the  hall. 
The  invited  guests,  the  speakers,  the  President,  and  the 


A  SKETCH   OF   THE   CENTENNIAL  II 

Trustees  were  seated  at  tables  arranged  upon  the  stage, 
and  the  after-dinner  speaking  was  from  the  platform. 
The  gallery  in  the  opposite  end  of  the  building  was  occu- 
pied by  the  students  of  the  College  and  the  musicians. 
The  decoration  of  the  interior  of  the  hall  was  elaborate 
and  effective,  the  flags  of  the  various  institutions  repre- 
sented at  the  celebration  mingling  with  the  Middlebury 
colors.  Rev.  Charles  M.  Mead,  D.D.,  '56,  officiated  as  chap- 
lain. The  duties  of  chairman  of  the  after-dinner  exer- 
cises were  performed  by  Governor  Stewart;  the  responses 
were  interesting  and  varied,  ranging  from  the  lightest  of 
pleasantries  to  the  vivid  portrayal,  by  Doctor  Capen,  of 
Middlebury's  work  in  missions,  and  the  eloquent  eulogy 
on  Mr.  Phelps,  by  General  McCullough.  Governor  Smith 
was  the  first  speaker,  followed  by  Professor  John  H. 
Wright,  representing  Harvard,  Rev.  Cornelius  L.  Kitchel, 
representing  Yale,  President  Matthew  H.  Buckham,  Presi- 
dent PVanklin  Carter,  Rev.  William  C.  Winslow,  who 
brought  the  greetings  of  Hamilton,  President  Henry  S. 
Snow,  Rev.  Byron  Sunderland,  Rev.  George  N.  Boardman, 
Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  Hon.  Samuel  B.  Capen,  General  John 
G.  McCullough,  Rev.  John  C.  Labaree,  Rev.  Richard  S. 
Holmes,  Colonel  Aldace  F.  Walker,  and  James  M.  Gifford, 
Esq.  The  interspersed  music  and  the  well-timed  cheer- 
ing of  the  college  students  as  the  various  representative 
speakers  were  introduced  added  much  to  the  enjoyment 
of  an  afternoon  that  had  passed  bej^ond  the  hour  of  six 
when  the  hall  was  finally  cleared. 

The  centennial  ball,  a  brilliant  affair  at  the  town  hall 
under  the  direction  of  the  Class  of  1900,  was  the  closing 
feature  of  the  crowded  week.  A  majority  of  those  in 
attendance  during  the  week  left  for  their  homes  on  Friday, 


12 


MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 


though  it  was  not  until  well  after  Sunday  that  the  village 
resumed  its  normal  summer  look. 

The  following  were  the  invited  guests  who  were  present : 

President  Oscar  Atwood    .    .     . 
President  Matthew  H.  Buckham 
Hon.  Samuel  B.  Capen 
President  Franklin  Carter  . 
Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin  .     .    . 
Rev.  Cornelius  L.  Kitchel 
Gen.  John  G.  McCullough 
D.  McGregor  Means,  Esq. 
Rev.  George  W.  Phillips  . 


Hon.  Redfield  Proctor    . 
Rev.  Charles  R.  Seymour 
Gov.  Edward  C.  Smith 
President  Henry  S.  Snow 


President  William  J.  Tucker 
Rev.  George  N.  Webber  .  . 
Rev.  William  C.  Winslow  .  . 
Prof.  John  H.  Wright  .     .     . 


Straight  University. 
University  of  Vermont. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Williams  College. 
Lexington,  Mass. 
Yale  University. 
North  Bennington,  Vt. 
New  York,  N.Y. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Washington,  D.C. 
Bennington,  Vt. 
St.  Albans,  Vt. 
Polytechnic    Institute 

of  Brooklyn. 
Dartmouth  College. 
Northampton,  Mass. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Harvard  University. 


There  were  many  interesting  letters  of  felicitation, 
among  them  this  cabled  message  from  the  University  of 
Upsala,  Sweden :  — 

"Collegio  Medioburiensi  saeculum  feiiciter  peractum  ex  animi 
sententia  gratulor  eidemque  in  posterum  omnia  laeta  ac  fausta 
precor. 

"  Rector  Universitatis  Upsaliensis." 

Many  gifts  of  value  were  received  by  the  College  during 
the  centennial  week.  The  Class  of  '71  presented  a  por- 
trait of  President  Harvey  D.  Kitchel,  '35,  (1866-1873)  ;  a 
portrait  of  Dr.  Miron  Winslow,  '15,  was  the  gift  of  his 
nephew,  Dr.  William  C.  Winslow  of  Boston ;  and  one  of 


A   SKETCH   OF   THE   CENTENNIAL  1 3 

President  Cyrus  Hamlin  was  received  from  President 
Rankin.  The  following  letter  from  the  Rev.  Wilson  A. 
Farnsworth,  D.D.,  '48,  received  by  President  Rankin  and 
transmitted  to  the  College,  has  reference  to  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  contributions  inspired  by  the  occasion : — 

C^SAREA,  Turkey,  May  7,  1900. 

My  dear  old  Classmate  :  —  I  have  put  up  my  present  for 
my  Alma  Mater,  —  one  hundred  ancient  coins.  My  intention  was 
just  one  hundred,  to  indicate  the  age  of  Jthe  dear  old  lady.  They 
have  been  marked,  dates  given,  etc.,  by  my  missionary  associate.  Dr. 
Dodd.  There  may  be  one  or  two  more  or  less,  but  one  hundred 
is  in  my  heart  and  what  I  mean. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  sending  these  with  my  compliments, 
best  wishes,  and  prayers.  There  are  forty-one  different  packages 
to  make  out  the  one  hundred.  There  are  a  good  many  duplicates, 
though  strictly  they  are  not  duplicates  at  all.  For  example,  there 
are  several  of  Septimius  Severus,  but  with  different  reverses.  I 
think  the  Roman  emperors  are  nearly,  if  not  all,  complete ;  but 
this  I  have  not  verified. 

No  one  of  these  coins  is  quite  so  old  as  the  gentleman  I  had 
the  honor  to  send  many  years  ago  from  Nineveh,  but  some  are 
about  as  well  preserved  as  he,  and  doubtless  have  had  an  experi- 
ence quite  as  varied.  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  be  with  you  at  Middle- 
bury  on  the  joyful  occasion. 

Returning  to  coins,  I  want  to  say  that  the  dates  of  the  Cappa- 
docian  coins  are  given  according  to  an  old  book  I  have ;  but  I 
find  that  Head,  a  later  authority  on  Greek  coins,  differs  somewhat 
from  this  book.  I  have  some  anxiety  whether  these  packages  will 
reach  you  in  season,  but  I  will  get  them  off  at  the  first  opportunity. 
As  ever  yours, 

W.  A.  Farnsworth, 

One  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  the  anniversary 
was  the  collection  of  Alumni  portraits.  While  this  collec- 
tion  was,  of  course,  incomplete,  the  response  from   the 


14  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

living  graduates  and  from  the  families  and  descendants  of 
the  dead  was  most  gratifying  to  those  having  the  matter  in 
charge.  The  reading-room  of  the  Painter  Hall  Library 
was  used  for  the  exhibit,  and  was  filled  throughout  the 
week  with  interested  students  of  the  collection. 

The  Centennial  Building,  erected  for  the  Roman  Drama 
and  for  the  luncheon  of  Thursday,  stood  directly  west  of 
the  Egbert  Starr  Library  and  southwest  of  Starr  Hall.  It 
was  a  wooden  structure  one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet 
long  and  sixty  feet  wide,  with  an  auditorium  sixty  by 
eighty  feet ;  the  stage  was  at  the  western  end,  and  a  gal- 
lery extended  across  the  eastern  end,  above  the  entrances. 
The  building  was  taken  down  when  the  celebration  was 
over. 

It  is  natural  that  those  to  whom  the  interests  of  Middle- 
bury  are  dear  should  have  looked  forward  to  the  centen- 
nial anniversary  with  eager  anticipation  and  high  hope.  To 
say  that  the  hope  was  realized  is  to  speak  well  within  the 
fact.  From  first  to  last,  everything  conspired  to  make  the 
days  ideal.  The  weather  was  perfect;  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  the  century  to  come  will  furnish  another 
set  of  days  from  July  first  to  fifth  so  absolutely  fitted  for 
such  a  celebration.  The  manifold  details  of  preparation, 
too,  had  been  thoughtfully  arranged.  To  carry  to  a  suc- 
cessful close  a  crowded  five-days'  programme,  an  intricate 
machine  was  necessary,  but  so  well  was  every  bearing  oiled 
that  jar  and  friction  were  done  away,  and  the  ease  of  move- 
ment added  much  to  the  pleasure  of  the  week.  Occasional 
slight  delays  were  for  the  most  part  chargeable  to  the 
Alumni  themselves  and  to  the  unlimited  sociability  of  the 
occasion,  with  class  reunions  and  informal  receptions,  here 
and  there  between  scheduled  events,  wherever  opportunity 


A   SKETCH   OF   THE   CENTENNIAL  1 5 

offered.  To  the  marked  social  character  of  the  whole  re- 
union, the  open-hearted  hospitality  of  the  people  of  the 
village  and  vicinity  contributed  much.  The  cordial  co- 
operation of  the  New  England  colleges  was  also  most  grati- 
fying. Their  words  of  congratulation,  the  representatives 
they  sent,  and  the  papers  offered  by  their  presidents  at  the 
educational  conference  were  notable  features  of  the  occa- 
sion. Best  of  all,  however,  was  the  response  of  the  Alumni. 
Of  the  five  hundred  and  seventy-four  who  were  living,  fifty- 
one  per  cent,  were  present,  among  them  the  oldest  living 
graduate.  Dr.  William  M.  Bass,  '32,  of  Neponset,  Mass. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  the  list  extends  over  sixty- 
eight  years  in  time  and  over  the  world  in  place,  this  show- 
ing is  remarkable.  As  an  index  of  graduate  loyalty  and  an 
earnest  of  good  things  to  come,  it  was  perhaps  the  most 
significant  fact  of  the  celebration. 


BACCALAUREATE    SERMON 

By  president  EZRA   BRAINERD 

Other  men  laboured,  and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labours. 

—  John  iv.  38. 

THE  more  we  know  of  human  life,  the  more 
intimate  appears  the  dependence  of  man 
upon  his  fellows.  Man  is  by  nature  the 
most  gregarious  of  all  animals.  The  adult  may  iso- 
late himself  from  his  kind ;  but  the  hermit  is  an  ab- 
normal creature,  often  a  relapse  to  the  plane  of  the 
beast.  The  shipwrecked  sailor  may  survive  for  years 
upon  some  lone  island;  but  it  requires  a  genius  like 
that  of  the  hero  of  Defoe  to  keep  mind  and  heart 
from  starving  in  such  solitude.  Man  can  attain  to 
the  realization  of  his  proper  selfhood  only  when  he 
comes  into  intimate  connection  with  his  fellow-men. 
Great  achievement  in  art  or  science  or  business  is 
possible  only  when  men  work  together  with  a  com- 
mon purpose. 

So  absolute  is  this  interdependence  of  men  that 
many  thinkers  have  held  that  human  society  is  an 
organic  unit  like  a  tree.  The  branches,  leaves,  and 
flowers  can  none  of  them  live  apart  from  the  tree ; 
nor  can  the  tree  thrive  when  deprived  of  these 
members.  Its  normal  life  results  only  from  the 
union  and  cooperation  of  all  the  parts.  St.  Paul, 
16 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  1 7 

with  an  insight  which  only  our  modern  science  is 
beginning  to  appreciate,  has  represented  the  society 
of  Christian  believers  as  constituting  one  body, —  an 
organism  with  feet  and  hands  and  head,  with  eyes 
and  ears,  —  each  member  having  its  special  work, 
indispensably  needful  to  the  rest,  but  dead  and  use- 
less when  dissevered.  "  Whether  one  member  suf- 
fereth,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it ;  or  one  mem- 
ber is  honoured,  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it." 

This  union  of  human  beings  in  one  common  lot, 
for  better  for  worse — this  fellowship  in  weal  or  woe, 
in  victory  or  defeat  —  is  strikingly  seen  in  the  life 
of  the  family,  or  of  the  local  community.  But  the 
mutual  interests  of  a  people  in  their  national  life  are 
quite  as  profound,  though  less  obtrusive.  It  is  not 
without  significance  that  our  fathers  spoke  of  the 
State  as  the  Commonwealth, —  the  guardianship  of 
the  common  weal.  And  as  civilization  advances,  the 
solidarity  of  the  whole  human  race  is  coming  to  be 
more  and  more  pronounced.  Our  modern  railroads, 
steamships,  and  telegraphs  have  brought  the  nations 
of  the  whole  earth  into  a  closer  intercourse  with  each 
other  than  existed  between  the  original  States  of  the 
Union  a  century  ago.  With  even  more  propriety 
than  the  sage  of  old  we  may  say  to-day  that,  as  men, 
we  are  concerned  with  whatever  affects  the  interests 
of  men  the  round  world  over.  Self-protection  re- 
quires this :  the  horrors  of  the  plague  are  felt  in 
the  distant  cities  of  India ;  but  in  another  season, 


1 8  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

through  the  myriad  ships  that  cross  the  ocean,  the 
disease  is  at  our  own  doors.  But  more  than  self- 
interest,  more  even  than  the  needs  of  trade,  a  grow- 
ing human  sympathy  is  bringing  all  members  of  the 
human  race  together.  We  hear  the  cries  of  the 
hungry  and  the  oppressed  even  in  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  globe ;  we  burn  with  indignation  at  the 
cruelty  of  the  oppressor ;  we  are  eager  to  establish 
the  institutions  of  science  and  education  among  less 
enlightened  nations;  we  are  zealous  to  send  the 
gospel  of  Christian  peace  and  salvation  into  every 
land.  Thus  the  essential  unity  of  the  race  is  com- 
ing into  fuller  recognition.  Every  man  is  learning 
to  feel  the  needs  of  his  fellow-man ;  and  we  are  ad- 
vancing to  a  fuller  realization  of  a  universal  brother- 
hood. 

But  this  dependence  of  man  upon  man  may  be 
viewed  historically  as  well  as  geographically.  Not 
only  the  aggregate  of  human  beings  now  living  on 
the  earth  are  bound  together  by  the  closest  bond  of 
mutual  interest,  but  we  are  also  bound  with  equally 
close  bonds  to  the  generations  of  men  who  have 
preceded  us.  This  is  the  special  thought  of  the 
text.  Christ  recognized  the  fact  that  the  opportu- 
nity of  the  hour  was  due  to  the  labors  of  prophets 
and  saints  who  had  preceded  them.  These  had 
sown  the  seed ;  the  apostles  were  privileged  to  reap 
the  ripened  harvest  of  that  sowing.  Other  men  have 
labored,  and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labor. 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  1 9 

It  IS  eminently  fitting  on  this  occasion  that  we 
should  consider  Our  Indebtedness  to  the  Past. 
The  educated  youth  of  to-day  go  forth  into  the  world, 
enjoying  a  higher  degree  of  privilege  than  ever  fell 
to  the  lot  of  their  predecessors.  Born  of  worthy 
ancestry,  in  as  fair  a  land  as  the  sun  shines  upon, 
surely  they  can  say  with  the  psalmist,  "  The  lines 
are  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant  places ;  yea,  I  have  a 
goodly  heritage."  Let  us  pause  to-day  to  contem- 
plate the  greatness  of  this  heritage,  and  to  learn 
some  of  the  lessons  that  it  teaches. 

I  would  speak  first  of  the  blessings  that  have 
come  to  us  from  the  past  through  the  channels  of 
natural  heredity.  Theologians  have  had  much  to 
say  of  our  inheritance  of  native  depravity.  Every 
man  is  indeed  born  with  animal  traits,  and  attains 
to  proper  manhood  only  after  a  struggle  with  selfish 
and  sensual  instincts,  acquired  not  only  by  Adam's 
fall,  but  by  the  misdeeds  of  centuries  of  savage  an- 
cestry. But  if  the  modern  inductions  of  heredity 
prove  anything,  they  prove  that  good  traits  of  mind 
or  heart  are  transmitted  to  offspring  as  truly  as  bad 
traits.  The  Lord  visits  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,  upon  the  third  and  upon  the 
fourth  generation ;  but  he  also  shows  mercy  unto  a 
thousand  generations  of  them  that  love  him  and 
keep  his  commandments. 

The  more  carefully  we  study  the  various  races  of 
men  on  earth,  the  more  pronounced  and  persistent 


20  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

appear  their  racial  peculiarities.  Education  and 
custom  have  much  to  do  in  bringing  this  about ; 
but  inborn  tendencies  play  a  most  important  part 
in  shaping  character.  In  spite  of  the  training  of 
the  school,  in  spite  of  social  and  religious  culture, 
every  man  shows  in  his  make-up  certain  tricks  of 
manner,  certain  ways  of  thinking  and  of  acting, 
that  he  owes  to  the  parents  or  grandparents  from 
whom  he  sprang.  If  they  were  men  and  women 
with  brave  hearts  and  steady  brains  and  honest 
lives,  it  should  be  easier  for  him  to  attain  to  all 
manly  grace  and  stature. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  pride  of  race  or  of  family  that 
is  vain  and  despicable.  Rank  and  reputation  are 
the  extraneous  things  of  a  man,  and  cannot  pass 
from  father  to  son  by  any  law  of  natural  heredity. 
But  it  is  a  proper  occasion  for  gratitude  if  one  be- 
longs to  a  race  of  men  who  for  centuries  in  the 
past  have  stood  for  what  was  noblest  in  thought 
and  literature,  who  have  fought  bravely  for  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  who  have  sought  to  main- 
tain justice  in  human  society,  and  to  guard  the 
purity  of  the  home.  We  have  good  reason  to 
glory  in  the  staunch  character  of  the  forefathers 
of  New  England.  We  may  speak  with  just  pride 
of  the  godly  lives  and  the  wise  foresight  of  those 
pioneers  of  Vermont  who  founded  here  a  Christian 
College  a  hundred  years  ago.  If  the  blood  of 
these  men,  or  of   other  men   such  as  these,  flows 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  21 

in  our  veins,  it  is  a  priceless  inheritance  from  the 
past. 

I  ask  you  to  notice,  secondly,  our  indebtedness 
to  the  past  for  our  present  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge.  The  important  truths  of  science,  which 
are  now  so  plain  that  the  schoolboy  cannot  fail  to 
understand  them,  were  at  first  but  slowly  and  pain- 
fully apprehended.  It  took  the  world  two  thou- 
sand years  to  find  out  with  certainty  whether  the 
sun  moved  daily  around  the  earth,  or  the  earth 
revolved  daily  about  its  axis.  When  the  present 
century  opened,  almost  nothing  was  known  of  the 
laws  and  possible  uses  of  electricity.  When,  how- 
ever, through  some  happy  accident,  or  by  some 
insight  of  genius,  the  problem  is  solved  and  the 
secret  of  nature  is  discovered,  all  men  share  in  the 
knowledge  and  transmit  it  to  future  generations. 
Some  of  the  greatest  inventions  of  the  race,  like  the 
printing-press  or  the  steam-engine,  were  strangely 
slow  in  coming ;  but  once  made,  they  were  made 
for  all  future  time.  The  lessons  of  past  experience 
have  often  been  dearly  bought.  History  is  replete 
with  the  wrecks  of  foolish  enterprises,  with  the  fail- 
ures of  unsound  methods  of  government,  with  futile 
schemes  of  selfish  ambition.  But  the  men  who 
come  after  may,  if  they  will,  learn  wisdom  from  the 
mistakes  of  the  past. 

In   this  way   the    human  race,  through   all  the 
centuries  of  its  history,  has  been  building  up  and 


22  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

equipping  a  vast  treasure-house  of  knowledge  and 
wisdom,  —  grander  than  any  cathedral,  more  endur- 
ing than  the  pyramids.  The  glory  of  the  finished 
structure,  when  our  knowledge  and  mastery  of  na- 
ture shall  be  complete,  it  has  not  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  to  conceive.  For  the  plan  is  not  of 
man's  devising,  but  the  creation  of  a  divine  Archi- 
tect. The  earnest  thinkers  of  the  past  have  been 
often  unconscious  of  the  value  and  significance  of 
their  work ;  their  labors  have  rather  been  prompted 
and  guided  by  a  God-given  instinct. 

Now  the  extended  knowledge  of  nature  and  of 
man  already  accumulated  in  modern  science  and 
literature  is  all  at  the  disposal  of  the  new  gen- 
eration, who  are  soon  to  be  the  active  members  of 
the  human  race.  It  is  as  though  all  the  great  and 
good  and  wise  of  the  past  had  been  laboring  for 
them.  We  of  to-day  are  the  heirs  of  all  former 
generations,  and  are  enjoying  the  rich  inheritance 
which  they  have  left  to  us.  Hardly  more  could 
have  been  done  for  us  if  the  worthies  of  old  had 
had  for  their  sole  aim  our  happiness  and  well-being. 
The  wonderful  creations  of  Shakespeare,  the  elo- 
quence of  Burke,  the  beauty  of  Tennyson,  the  in- 
spiration of  Browning,  are  all  for  our  benefit  and 
delectation.  The  sublime  thoughts  of  Milton  and 
of  Dante  we  may  think  over  after  them.  We  may 
walk  in  the  intellectual  footsteps  of  Newton  and 
of  Locke.     All  the  poets  and  sages  and  inventors 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  23 

of  the  past  are  to-day  our  servants  and  benefactors. 
If  we  live  in  intellectual  luxury,  it  is  because  they 
lived  before  us.  If  we  achieve  great  things,  it  is 
because  they  have  paved  the  way. 

But  we  are  furthermore  indebted  to  the  past  be- 
cause of  the  social  and  civil  institutions  that  have 
been  established.  What  we  call  modern  civilization 
is  a  most  complex  and  recondite  affair.  .  We  are 
surrounded  constantly  by  its  benign  influences,  as 
by  the  fresh  air  and  sunshine  of  heaven.  Its  bless- 
ings are  so  universal  and  so  continuous  that  we 
commonly  fail  to  appreciate  them,  and  forget  at 
what  enormous  cost  they  were  purchased.  We  live 
under  a  wise  and  just  government  which  aims 
to  protect  the  rights  of  its  millions  of  citizens. 
Peace,  order,  and  personal  freedom  prevail  as  a 
rule  over  this  great  republic.  But  only  those  who 
have  studied  the  history  of  constitutional  law  know 
of  the  bloody  battles,  the  fierce  controversies,  the 
prolonged  struggles  through  which  our  fathers 
had  to  pass  to  establish  the  principles  of  law  and 
just  government  under  which  we  live  to-day.  The 
right  of  free  speech,  freedom  of  worship,  the  privi- 
lege of  trial  by  jury,  the  abolition  of  slavery  have 
been  secured  to  us  only  by  the  sacrifice  of  unnum- 
bered lives  and  countless  treasures. 

There  are  also  other  institutions  than  those  of 
government  which  the  past  has  bequeathed  to  us, 
no   less  valuable,  though   established   by  methods 


24  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

less  violent.  Take,  for  example,  our  modern  sys- 
tem of  education.  The  establishment  of  free  schools 
for  the  thorough  mental  training  of  all  children,  the 
founding  and  generous  endowment  of  colleges  and 
universities  have  done  more  to  elevate  the  aver- 
age intelligence  and  character  of  our  people  than 
any  other  secular  institutions  that  can  be  men- 
tioned. The  modern  age  is  noted  for  its  chari- 
table and  philanthropic  institutions  —  its  hospitals 
and  asylums,  public  libraries  and  galleries  of  art, 
founded  by  generous  men  for  the  good  of  pos- 
terity—  institutions  that  contribute  vastly  to  the 
comfort  and  dignity  and  refinement  of  our  present 
civilization.  In  these  matters,  surely,  other  men 
have  labored,  and  we  are  entered  into  their  labors. 

But  there  are  still  other  influences  more  subtile 
and  yet  as  potent  that  descend  upon  us  from  the 
lives  and  labors  of  past  generations.  There  are 
unwritten  customs,  time-honored  usages,  rites  of 
courtesy,  that  give  character  to  our  social  life.  Our 
forms  of  speech,  language  itself,  is  an  inheritance 
from  the  past.  Our  love  of  the  beautiful,  our  sen- 
timents of  honor,  our  code  of  morals,  our  religious 
hopes  and  beliefs,  have  all  been  instilled  into  us  by 
the  lives  and  teachings  of  noble  spirits  who  came 
before  us.  Thus  our  lives  are  inextricably  involved 
in  the  lives  of  our  predecessors.  In  body  and  soul 
we  are  largely  the  resultant  of  forces  that  acted  in 
former  generations.     For  a  few  short  years  we  are 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  25 

permitted  to  enter  into  the  perennial  life  of  the 
race,  and  to  inherit  the  wealth  and  power  and  at- 
tainment of  the  past. 

Consider  now  two  of  the  practical  lessons  of  our 
theme.  One  is  that  to  the  great  a^id  good  who  of 
old  labored  in  our  behalf  we  should  ever  cherish  the 
deepest  sense  of  gratitude.  It  is  not  so  easy  a  thing 
for  us  to  be  thankful  to  the  dead  as  to  be  thankful 
to  the  living.  The  ears  of  the  dead,  we  think,  are 
deaf  to  all  our  praises.  They  have  ceased  from  their 
labors;  they  can  do  no  more  for  us.  They  dwell 
afar  in  the  silent  land,  busied  with  higher  concerns 
than  those  of  earth ;  and  we  doubt  at  times  if  their 
thoughts  and  love  go  back  to  those  who  have  taken 
up  the  weapons  that  they  let  fall  when  summoned 
from  the  conflict  of  life. 

In  the  living  presence  of  a  personal  benefactor 
our  gratitude  is  spontaneous  and  finds  ready  ex- 
pression. Perhaps  there  is  a  selfish  element  in  it, 
and  we  think  to  insure  a  continuance  or  repetition 
of  the  benefit.  Gratitude  for  the  absent  or  the  de- 
parted, gratitude  to  a  giver  who  never  knew  us  as 
individuals,  is  a  virtue  that  pertains  to  the  higher 
planes  of  character,  and  flourishes  only  when  prop- 
erly fostered.  In  the  sphere  of  animal  life  but  little 
account  is  made  of  filial  affection.  The  love  of  par- 
ents for  offspring  is  strong ;  the  vigorous  perpetua- 
tion of  the  species  has  required  this.     But  in  the 


26  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

state  of  nature  there  is  no  reward  offered  to  elicit 
love  of  offspring  for  parents.  The  young  take  from 
the  old  what  they  can  get,  as  a  matter  of  right;  ren- 
dering a  certain  measure  of  respect  and  obedience, 
but  never  gratitude.  We  sometimes  see  in  human 
beings  these  traits  of  the  animal;  but  it  finds  no 
place  in  any  proper  conception  of  manhood.  The 
human  soul  is  susceptible  to  the  noble  sentiments 
of  grateful  reverence.  Man  alone  of  earthly  crea- 
tures has  learned  to  kneel  and  to  adore.  He  alone 
lifts  up  the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise  to  the  unseen 
Father;  he  alone  bares  his  head  in  the  conscious 
presence  of  the  infinite  mysteries  of  life  and  death ; 
he  alone  can  appreciate  and  venerate  the  heroes  of 
his  race,  and  pay  the  homage  of  gratitude  to  unseen 
benefactors. 

We  cannot  overestimate  the  uplift  of  character 
that  comes  to  us  from  the  cultivation  of  a  grateful 
reverence  for  the  past.  We  learn  to  value  the  bless- 
ings of  our  birthright  when  we  realize  what  they 
cost  in  toil  and  sacrifice.  A  grateful  reverence  for 
the  past  begets  in  us  a  proper  spirit  of  conserva- 
tism,—  not  that  we  think  the  men  of  former  days 
were  perfect,  or  their  work  complete,  or  their  beliefs 
infallible,  but  that  they  laid  well  the  foundations 
which  we  should  maintain.  We  are  come  "  not  to 
destroy,  but  to  fulfil."  In  the  contemplation  of  their 
virtues,  in  the  study  of  their  thoughts  and  purposes, 
and  by  the  grateful  recognition  of  their  brave  deeds 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  2^ 

and  glorious  achievements,  we  catch  something  of 
the  same  spirit;  we  are  changed  into  the  same 
image,  and  become  less  unworthy  of  our  noble 
heritage. 

Nor  is  it  any  vain  homage  that  we  render  to  the 
dead.  Think  not  that  their  ears  are  altogether  deaf 
to  the  utterances  of  our  thankful  hearts.  Even  in 
the  silent  land  whither  the  immortal  spirits  of  just 
men  have  departed,  there  may  come  memories  of 
earthly  scenes,  and  affection  may  turn  back  with  ten- 
der interest  to  the  workers  upon  whom  their  mantle 
has  fallen.  The  martyr  who  laid  down  his  life  in 
the  defence  of  a  great  cause  cannot  but  rejoice  in  its 
final  triumph,  even  while  he  stands  before  the  great 
white  throne.  We  honor  not  the  dead  who  lie  cold 
and  silent  in  their  graves ;  we  honor  rather  the 
living  saints  of  the  Most  High  God  who  have  gone 
on  to  glory.  Our  gratitude  for  the  good  that  has 
come  to  us  from  the  labors  of  our  forefathers  floats 
not  away  like  vain  incense  into  the  vacant  air;  its 
fragrance  is  borne  on,  as  by  angels'  wings,  through 
the  gates  of  the  heavenly  city  into  the  very  presence 
of  the  mighty  dead,  who  still  live  and  love  and  care 
for  men. 

Our  subject  has  for  us  a  further  practical  lesson. 
If  we  are  deeply  indebted  to  those  who  have  gone 
before  us,  we  are  under  corresponding  obligations  to 
those  who  shall  come  after  us.  In  God's  providence 
we  are  not  here  in  this  world  as  the  idle  and  passive 


28  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

recipients  of  his  bounty.  The  divine  command  is : 
"  Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give." 

We  are  indeed  heirs  to  all  the  riches  of  our  pred- 
ecessors. All  their  science  and  literature  are  ours ; 
we  own  all  their  wonderful  devices  by  which  the 
various  forces  of  nature  are  subdued  into  service ; 
we  possess  all  the  civil  and  social  institutions  which 
they  established  at  such  great  cost.  But  we  are  not 
the  last  generation  of  men  on  the  earth ;  only  the 
latest.  We  are  but  a  link  in  the  chain  of  countless 
generations  that  extends  through  the  centuries  of 
human  history.  It  is  our  duty  to  transmit  to  pos- 
terity the  great  legacy  of  the  race,  not  simply  un- 
impaired, but  adorned  and  enriched  and  enlarged. 

True  greatness  of  soul  is  never  found  in  living 
for  self  as  the  supreme  end,  in  caring  most  of  all  for 
one's  own  ease  or  happiness,  or  fame  or  self-culture. 
The  Master  has  said,  "  He  that  loveth  his  life  shall 
lose  it."  The  great  soul  is  he  who  more  and 
more,  as  the  years  of  life  pass  by,  learns  to  for- 
get the  things  of  self.  For  the  Master  has  fur- 
ther said,  "  He  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake 
shall  find  it." 

The  inheritance  of  the  past  comes  to  individuals 
in  various  forms.  It  comes  often  as  material  wealth. 
In  these  latter  days  there  is  an  increasing  number 
of  men  who  have  large  fortunes,  the  fruit  of  indus- 
try and  enterprise,  —  the  earned  or  unearned  incre- 
ment of  a  prosperous  age.      It  is  one  of  the  most 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  29 

hopeful  signs  of  the  times  that  so  many  who  have 
great  possessions  are  recognizing  the  moral  obliga- 
tions that  wealth  imposes;  that  instead  of  wasting 
their  substance  in  luxury  and  ostentatious  display, 
they  are  using  it  to  establish  permanent  benefac- 
tions to  bless  the  coming  generations.  Here  is  to 
be  found  the  true  solution  of  the  problems  of  social- 
ism,—  in  the  voluntary  recognition  of  the  Christian 
doctrine  that  all  men  are  but  the  stewards  of  the 
Lord's  bounty ;  that  in  God's  kingdom  "  none  of  us 
liveth  to  himself  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself." 

But  the  legacy  of  the  past  may  come  to  men  in 
other  forms  than  wealth.  It  may  come  as  intellec- 
tual talent,  or  as  opportunity  for  education  and  cul- 
ture. But  here,  too,  the  divine  law  holds:  "  Freely 
ye  have  received,  freely  give."  They  of  old  who 
hoarded  the  heavenly  manna  found  it  in  the 
morning  but  a  mass  of  pollution.  Knowledge  and 
culture  are  vain,  unless  they  can  be  used  in  the  ser- 
vice of  others.  It  is  fixed  in  the  eternal  nature  of 
things  that  self-worship  is  hollow  and  ghastly,  but 
self-sacrifice  glorious  and  godlike. 

Dear  Pupils  of  the  Senior  Class :  Your  college 
life  draws  to  a  close  at  a  most  interesting  epoch, — 
as  the  nineteenth  century  is  about  to  end,  and  as 
your  Alma  Mater  completes  her  first  hundred  years 
of  service.  It  is  a  time  when  we  naturally  contrast 
the  past  with  the  present.  And  as  we  do  so,  we  are 
amazed  at  the  increase  of  privilege  and  opportunity 


30  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

that  has  come  to  young  men  and  women  during  the 
century.  The  strides  that  have  been  made  in  the 
sciences,  the  clearer  light  with  which  history  is  read, 
the  broader  culture,  —  new  books,  new  methods, 
new  appliances,  make  college  life  far  other  now  than 
it  was  in  former  days. 

Nor  has  the  wide  world  into  which  we  send  you 
ever  before  offered  to  earnest  youth  more  golden 
opportunities.  The  human  race  is  awake  to  great 
enterprises  as  never  before.  The  fight  is  on,  all 
along  the  line,  between  the  hosts  of  darkness  and 
of  light.  Men  of  character  and  ability  are  sought 
after  everywhere  to  fill  posts  of  importance  and  re- 
sponsibility. For  the  earnest  soul,  strong  in  princi- 
ples and  faithful  to  high  ideals,  the  world  has  never 
before  offered  a  more  glorious  field  for  endeavor. 
Thank  God  that  you  live  as  near  as  you  do  to  the 
latter  days,  when  so  much  of  the  evil  and  imperfec- 
tions of  the  past  is  behind  you,  and  so  much  of  the 
glory  of  the  future  seems  to  be  opening  before  you. 

As  we  bid  you  God-speed  on  leaving  us  to  enter 
upon  the  life-work  to  which  Providence  may  assign 
you  in  the  grander  era  of  the  new  century,  I  would 
impress  upon  you  the  saying  of  the  Divine  Teacher, 
that  he  who  would  become  great  should  be  the  min- 
ister and  servant  of  all.  A  noble  life  is  a  life  of  self- 
forgetfulness.  As  the  years  pass  by,  become  more 
and  more  identified  with  the  grand  life  of  the  race. 
Enter  heart  and  soul  into  the  great  interests  of  our 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  3 1 

common  humanity.  Work  for  your  fellow-men ; 
live  for  your  fellow-men ;  and,  if  need  be,  die  for 
your  fellow-men.  So  shall  you  follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  blessed  Master,  and  enter  into  his 
reward. 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS 

BEFORE  THE  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS 

By   president   SAMUEL  W.   BOARDMAN 

CHRISTIANITY  is  inclusive  of  all  true  relig- 
ion ;  Christ  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life.  It  is  exclusive  of  all  other  religions : 
"  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me ; " 
"  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me." 
Christianity  is,  however,  like  all  things  human,  pro- 
gressive. Of  the  increase  of  His  kingdom  there 
shall  be  no  end.  Every  Christian  college  con- 
tributes to  build  up  that  kingdom,  as  the  zo- 
ophyte to  build  up  the  coral  island  in  the  sea. 
The  occasion  suggests  "The  Contribution  of  the 
First  Century  of  Middlebury  College  to  Christian 
Progress." 

As  Abraham  Lincoln  ceased  to  breathe.  Secre- 
tary Stanton,  standing  near,  said,  "  He  now  be- 
longs to  the  ages."  The  first  century  of  Middlebury 
College  now  belongs  to  history.  There  is,  of  neces- 
sity, a  deep  pathos  in  such  an  occasion.  No  one 
human  life  covers  the  whole  of  its  history.  Life 
and  death,  mortality  and  immortality,  time  and 
32 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  33 

eternity  are  mingled  in  the  review.  To  one  stand- 
ing on  the  summit  of  Mount  Marcy,  the  landscape 
extends  in  one  view  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the 
Hudson,  and  from  Lake  Ontario  to  the  White 
Mountains.  Boston  and  Montreal  are  at  once 
under  the  eye.  So  we  at  this  summit  of  time 
survey  the  whole  field  of  our  College  history,  from 
Aaron  Petty,  the  solitary  graduate  of  1802,  to  the 
large  Class  of  1900.  If  this  discourse  shall  be  long, 
it  must  be  charged  to  the  alumni  who  have  achieved 
so  much  that  demands  commemoration;  and  par- 
don may  be  asked  on  the  ground  that  the  audi- 
ence will  not  be  tasked  again  in  the  same  way 
for  a    century. 

Environment  moulds  institutions  as  well  as  indi- 
viduals. Few  places  in  America  are  more  affluent 
in  elements  of  romance,  in  history,  or  in  natural 
beauty  than  the  Champlain  Valley,  in  the  midst 
of  which  stands  Middlebury  College.  It  is  full 
of  stirring  associations  from  the  struggles  and 
conflicts  of  French  and  English  colonization  in 
America.  The  names  Champlain,  Vergennes,  Ver- 
mont are  all  French.  The  French  built  forts  on 
the  Lake,  and  held  possession  of  this  territory  till 
the  French  and  Indian  War ;  nor  was  this  region 
open  to  English  and  Protestant  settlements  till 
after  the  conquest  of  Quebec  by  Wolfe,  in  1759. 
On  July  5,  1758,  just  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
years  ago,  and  eighteen  years  before  the  Declara- 
3 


34  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

tion  of  Independence,  the  British  were  badly  de« 
feated  by  the  French  near  Lake  George.  The 
able  French  general,  Montcalm,  with  thirty-six 
hundred  active  French  and  Indians,  defeated  the 
incapable  British  general,  Abercrombie,  with  fifteen 
thousand  brave  British  and  American  soldiers,  ac- 
companied by  a  fleet  of  one  thousand  and  thirty- 
five  boats  and  by  abundance  of  artillery  mounted  on 
rafts.  The  battle  was  almost  in  sight  from  Chip- 
man  Hill,  being  fought  a  little  north  of  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga.  It  resulted  in  the  death  of  Lord  Howe  and 
the  loss  of  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty- 
four  soldiers,  mostly  British  regulars.  This  valley, 
between  the  Green  and  the  Adirondack  Mountains, 
was  thus  charged  with  the  spirit  of  one  of  the  most 
strenuous  conflicts  in  the  history  of  civilization. 
At  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  almost  in  sight 
from  our  College  belfry,  the  French  bestowed 
great  sums  of  money  in  fortifications,  and  afterward 
the  British  expended  ten  millions  of  dollars  on 
the  same  defenses.  Parliament,  in  1759,  voted 
sixty  million  dollars  for  the  conquest  of  French 
America.  The  spirit  of  the  elder  Pitt,  the  Earl 
of  Chatham,  reigned  throughout  this  valley,  and 
left  his  name  on  one  of  the  fords  of  Otter  Creek, 
Pittsford.  This  was  only  forty-one  years  before 
the  founding  of  Middlebury  College,  and  these 
events  had  much  to  do  in  forming  the  character 
of  the  population  out  of  which  soon  afterward  Mid- 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  35 

dlebury  College  rose.  The  subsequent  struggle 
for  American  independence,  and  the  peculiar  posi- 
tion of  the  inhabitants,  between  the  rival  claims  of 
New  Hampshire  and  New  York,  gave  in  addition 
a  unique  flavor  of  character  to  Vermont.  The 
first  seal  of  Vermont  was  the  "beech  seal."  Ethan 
Allen  impressed  much  of  his  strong,  though  unpol- 
ished, character  upon  the  State.  From  Quebec, 
where  Wolfe  triumphed,  to  Saratoga,  where  Bur- 
goyne  surrendered,  this  valley  was  alive  with  heroic 
memories.  Nor  has  it  been  less  distinguished  in 
later  days,  when  McDonough  triumphed  on  the 
Lake,  or  when  the  body  of  John  Brown,  "  whose 
soul  went  marching  on,"  was  brought  back  from 
Virginia,  through  Middlebury,  to  be  buried  in  a 
nook  among  the  Adirondacks.  The  first  students 
of  Middlebury  College  were  the  sons  and  grandsons 
of  the  heroes  of  Quebec,  Ticonderoga,  and  Ben- 
nington. Dr.  Beman  told  us  at  the  semicentennial 
that  his  own  father  participated  in  the  capture  of 
Fort  Ticonderoga  under  Allen  and  Arnold. 

Our  fathers  found  ozone  on  the  mountains  and 
iron  in  the  hills,  and  both  entered  into  their  blood. 
By  a  marked  Providence,  the  College  was  located 
at  Middlebury,  a  settlement  made  by  notable  and 
superior  men.  Daniel  Foot,  Gamaliel  Painter,  Seth 
Storrs,  Daniel  Chipman,  Samuel  Miller,  Darius 
Matthews,  and  kindred  spirits,  were  an  uncommon 
assemblage.    The  tide  of  immigration  from  the  older 


36  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

New  England  colonies  had  been  recently  turned 
toward  Vermont,  and  many  of  the  ablest  young 
men  came  hither.  President  Dwight  three  times 
visited  Middlebury,  and  directed  to  this  place  sev- 
eral of  the  most  promising  graduates  of  Yale  of 
that  day.  He  encouraged  the  establishment  of  the 
Academy  and  College,  and  afforded  valuable  coun- 
sel and  assistance.  Presidents  Atwater  and  Davis, 
Professor  Hough,  Seth  Storrs,  Senators  Seymour 
and  Samuel  S.  Phelps  were  prominent  students 
from  New  Haven ;  Chipman,  Swift,  Merrill,  and 
Hall,  from  Dartmouth  ;  Starr,  from  Williams.  Dr. 
Merrill  took  the  valedictory  from  Daniel  Webster 
at  Dartmouth,  and  President  Bates  from  Chief 
Justice  Shaw  at  Harvard.  President  Davis  was 
the  first  choice  for  President  of  Yale  to  succeed 
President  Dwight.  Such  a  collection  of  valedic- 
torians, college  officers,  and  other  superior  men  in 
any  country  village  is  very  rare.  There  were  early 
settlers  at  Middlebury  who,  though  not  college 
graduates,  were  scarcely  inferior.  Such  a  body  of 
early  inhabitants  imparted  an  elevating  influence 
of  great  value  to  the  College,  which  has  continued 
from  the  first.  For  one-quarter  of  the  century  past 
Middlebury  has  been  represented  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  for  the  same  length  of  time 
by  members  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
It  has  been  the  home  of  three  governors,  and 
always   of    many  influential    citizens.     The    time 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  37 

when  the  College  was  founded  is  worthy  of  notice. 
Washington  had  just  died.  The  Federal  Constitu- 
tion had  been  in  operation  only  eleven  years.  The 
heroes  and  statesmen  of  the  Revolutionary  period 
survived,  but  were  rapidly  passing  away.  Napo- 
leon was  beginning  his  marvellous  career.  Burns 
and  Cowper  had  recently  died.  Wordsworth,  Col- 
eridge, and  Southey  were  beginning  to  write. 
Byron,  Shelley,  and  Scott  had  not  yet  risen  to 
notice.  The  population  of  the  United  States  was 
5,300,000.  Its  financial  resources  were  probably 
not  one-seventieth  part  of  what  they  now  are. 
The  Christian  Church  was  much  smaller  in  pro- 
portion to  the  whole  population  than  it  now  is. 

The  village  of  Middlebury  had  emerged  from  the 
primeval  wilderness  only  ten  or  fifteen  years  before 
the  founding  of  the  College.  An  academy  had  been 
established  three  years  before,  in  1797.  A  college 
charter  had  been  sought  for  two  years,  but  delayed. 
Gamaliel  Painter,  Seth  Storrs,  and  Samuel  Miller, 
however,  were  enterprising  and  level-headed  men, 
and  at  length  prevailed.  The  Legislature  met  here 
in  1800  and  granted  the  college  charter  on  Nov.  i. 
Immediately  a  choice  selection  of  youth  were  gath- 
ered together  for  study.  They  were  like  the  people 
of  Middlebury,  of  a  superior  class.  Dr.  Beman  re- 
lated in  1850  that,  leaving  Williams  in  order  to  find 
a  college  nearer  home,  and  passing  through  Burling- 
ton, where,  stimulated  by  Middlebury,  the  University 


38  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

had  been  commenced,  he  was  so  impressed  with  the 
ability,  diligence,  and  earnestness  of  the  teachers 
and  students  here  that  he  was  constrained  to  cast 
in  his  lot  among  them. 

The  century  which  we  now  review  as  at  a  single 
glance,  yet  measures  an  important  part  of  the  history 
of  the  world.  It  is  one-nineteenth  of  the  Christian 
era.  It  is  one-fourth  of  the  time  since  the  discovery 
of  America,  the  revival  of  learning,  the  development 
of  the  arts,  and  the  Protestant  Reformation.  It  is 
more  than  one-third  of  the  period  since  the  settle- 
ments at  Jamestown  and  Plymouth.  It  covers  near- 
ly the  whole  of  our  independent  national  life  as  an 
American  Union.  Yet  the  memory  of  two  genera- 
tions easily  covers  the  whole.  Henry  Chipman  of 
the  Class  of  1803,  the  first  class  that  really  appeared 
at  Commencement,  was  a  brisk,  alert,  efficient  youth 
in  1800,  yet  several  persons  who  are  now  present 
heard  him,  at  the  Commencement  dinner  in  1865, 
relate  familiarly  incidents  of  the  very  first  years  of 
the  College,  and  especially  the  formation  of  the 
Philomathesian  Society,  of  which  he  was  the  chief 
founder,  and  the  account  of  his  puzzled  studies  in 
constructing  the  name  "  Philomathesian."  I  saw 
Daniel  Chipman,  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  borne  to  the  grave  in  1850.  I 
called  upon  President  Atwater  in  New  Haven  in 
1856  ;  I  took  college  notes,  used  in  the  preparation 
of  this  address,  from  Daniel  Hopkins  (1804);  ^  con- 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  39 

versed  with  Salem  Town  (1805)  respecting  the  early 
days  of  the  College ;  and  many  of  us  were  familiar 
with  the  presence  of  Governor  Slade  and  Doctor 
Beman  of  the  Class  of  1807. 

In  this  place  the  intellectual  life  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred graduates  has  been  formed.  Upon  this  College 
the  eminent  achieveipients  of  many  of  them  have  re- 
flected charm  and  lustre.  They  were  once  here. 
They  went  out  to  large  and  earnest  service  in  all  the 
world.  Most  of  them  are  not,  and  yet  they  live  and 
will  ever  live,  here  and  in  the  many  fields  of  their 
active  life-work.  There  are  peculiar  emotions  at- 
tending a  college  brotherhood.  We  are  one  family. 
We  have  but  one  Alma  Mater.  She  may  be  less 
richly  endowed  in  finances  than  some  other  colleges, 
but  she  is  ours,  and  we  love  her  with  an  undying 
affection.  She  is  ^^r  dear  mother;  our  Alma.  Mater. 

We  are  not  here  to  boast  of  superiority  over  other 
similar  institutions.  It  is  enough  for  us  that  we 
have  an  honorable  place  in  the  noble  fraternity  of 
American  colleges.  We,  however,  confidently  chal- 
lenge a  place  with  the  best.  Though  no  one  of  our 
number  has  occupied  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States,  yet  one,  an  illustrious  senator,  who  went  from 
a  farm  almost  under  the  eaves  of  the  College,  refused 
the  vice-presidency ;  declined  a  place  in  the  cabinet, 
and  a  seat  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States;  and  was  regarded,  had  he  lived,  to  be  as 
sure  of  the  presidency  as  any  one  can  be  before  nom- 


40  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

ination  and  election.  Another  of  our  number  often 
presided  over  the  Senate,  and  the  dignity  of  his 
presence,  as  Charles  Sumner  expressed  it,  seemed 
to  fill  the  whole  chamber,  as  of  one  every  inch  a 
senator.  A  third  brother  was  long  an  honored  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  A 
fourth  was  an  exceptionally  distinguished  ambassa- 
dor to  the  Court  of  St.  James ;  at  whose  illness  and 
recent  death  expressions  of  tenderness  and  condo- 
lence were  sent  to  the  private  citizen's  home  in  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  by  the  sovereign  lady,  the  Queen  of 
the  British  Empire.  The  universities  by  the  sea 
have  sometimes  spoken  of  the  institutions  of  the 
interior  as  fresh-water  colleges.  But  when  wcv  re- 
call the  names  of  Webster,  Choate,  and  Chase;  of 
Wright  (1815),  Nelson  (1813),  and  Phelps  (1840), 
it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  the  mountain  air 
is  less  favorable  for  the  development  of  able  men 
than  the  breezes  of  the  ocean.  It  is  our  delight  on 
this  occasion  to  congratulate  all  American  colleges, 
and  especially  those  that  are  nearest  to  us,  on  their 
grand  achievements.  Middlebury  was  necessarily 
modeled  after  Yale,  Harvard,  and  Dartmouth,  from 
which  it  received  its  first  instructors.  Dartmouth 
almost  belongs,  according  to  original  intention,  to 
Vermont;  separated  from  it  only  by  the  silver 
thread  of  the  Connecticut  River.  It  holds  lands  in 
Vermont,  donated  to  it  by  our  legislature  when  it 
was  perhaps  expected  that  one  college  would  suffice 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  4 1 

both  for  New  Hampshire  and  for  the  New  Hamp- 
shire grants.  Dartmouth  has  received  from  Vermont 
Asa  Burton,  Ebenezer  Porter,  Daniel  Chipman, 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  James  and  George  P.  Marsh, 
Asa  D.  Smith,  Walbridge  A.  Field,  and  many  oth- 
ers of  her  most  illustrious  sons.  It  has  furnished 
two  presidents  to  the  college,  one  of  them  a  native 
of  Vermont.  The  two  present  worthy  senators  from 
Vermont,  both  natives  of  the  State,  were  graduated 
in  the  same  Class  of  185 1  at  Dartmouth. 

Especially  are  the  other  colleges  of  Vermont  to 
be  congratulated  on  this  centennial  occasion :  Nor- 
wich University,  on  such  students  as  Generals  Par- 
tridge, Ransom,  and  Jackman,  Admiral  Dewey,  and 
many  others.  Captain  Alden  Partridge,  the  founder 
of  Norwich  University,  was  the  first  Commandant  of 
West  Point,  and  also  the  founder  of  what  is  now 
the  Wesleyan  University  in  Connecticut.  Nor- 
wich University  is  deserving  of  high  honor  for 
having  furnished  a  long  list  of  brave,  skilful,  and 
patriotic  officers  and  men  for  the  defense  of  the 
Union. 

The  University  of  Vermont,  though  chartered 
earlier  than  Middlebury  College,  was  not  set  in 
operation  till  a  beginning  had  been  made  in  this 
place.  If  its  establishment  had  immediately  fol- 
lowed its  charter,  it  is  not  likely  that  Middlebury 
College  would  have  been  chartered.  The  Univer- 
sity has  accomplished  a  noble  work  in  philosophy, 


42  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

in  science,  and  in  literature,  and  has  sent  forth  effi- 
cient representatives  into  every  part  of  the  world. 
Its  genial  relation  to  our  Alma  Mater  is  seen  in 
the  fact  that  it  at  one  time  invited  one  of  our  own 
number  to  its  presidency.  For  a  century  of  Chris- 
tian education,  these  two  towers  of  learning,  some- 
what unlike  but  not  unequal,  have  stood  side  by 
side,  like  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  opening  the  way 
out  into  the  broader  realms  of  human  knowledge. 
Education  in  Vermont  has  had  more  amplitude, 
variety,  and  completeness  than  it  could  probably 
have  had  with  either  alone.  Presidents  Marsh  and 
Torrey,  from  Dartmouth,  were  not  precisely  the 
same  as  Presidents  Davis  and  Bates  and  Professors 
Hough  and  Stoddard,  from  Harvard  and  Yale,  yet 
the  teaching  of  each  institution  to  some  extent 
affected  and  supplemented  that  of  the  other. 

In  a  review  of  the  history  of  Middlebury  College 
for  the  past  century,  to  form  some  estimate  of  its 
contribution  to  the  Christian  progress  of  the  world, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  what  was  so  well  said  at 
the  jubilee  fifty  years  ago  by  Professor  Hough  and 
others  concerning  such  of  the  earlier  graduates  as 
had  then  deceased,  and  yet  in  any  aggregate  esti- 
mate of  the  College  they  cannot  be  wholly  omitted. 
At  that  time  eight  hundred  and  seventy-seven  men 
had  been  graduated,  and  about  seven  hundred  were 
supposed  to  be  living.  Many  of  the  most  eminent 
were  present  at  the  jubilee,  and  any  very  specific 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  43 

account  of  their  talents  and  work  was  then,  from 
considerations  of  delicacy,  impossible.  The  number 
of  the  deceased  is  now  so  large  that  lack  of  time 
forbids  such  minute  details  of  individual  lives  as 
were  then  given.  The  English  catalogues  since 
published  by  Mr.  Pearson  and  others,  and  especially 
the  one  about  to  be  issued,  render  this  entirely 
unnecessary. 

Some  specific  account,  however,  of  the  work  done 
by  our  alumni  as  a  body  is  essential.  In  this  it  is 
not  desired  to  exaggerate  anything,  but  in  plain  and 
simple  statements  to  recount  briefly  what  has  been 
accomplished,  and  leave  the  record  to  speak  for  it- 
self. Good  scholars  have  entered  here.  It  was  said 
that  Dr.  Richards,  of  Meriden,  N.  H.,  who  fitted 
Solon  Albee  (185 1),  remarked  that  he  had  never 
trained  a  better  student.  Of  his  brother,  Hon.  Sum- 
ner Albee  (1848),  of  Boston,  Professor  Andrew  P. 
Peabody,  of  Harvard  University,  said  at  his  funeral 
that  he  never  knew  a  better  man.  These  were 
representatives  of  many  Middlebury  students.  No 
average  estimate  can,  of  course,  wholly  exclude  the 
living  from  our  review,  though  they  must,  for  ob- 
vious reasons,  be  spoken  of  much  less  freely  than 
we  speak  of  the  dead.  The  work  of  more  recent 
alumni  cannot  be  brought  very  largely  into  the 
account,  since  their  life-work  is  as  yet  in  great  part 
unachieved,  and  even  what  is  done  is  less  known 
than  is  that  of  the  older  graduates. 


44  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

Although  Christian  ministers,  and  especially  for- 
eign missionaries,  are  most  conspicuous  in  the  pro- 
motion of  Christian  progress,  yet  the  work  is  by  no 
means  restricted  to  their  agency.  When  there  was 
no  preaching  at  Canton,  N.  Y.,  Silas  Wright  was 
accustomed  to  read  a  sermon  to  the  congregation. 
Such  elders  as  Calvin  T.  Hulburd  (1829)  and  John 
C.  Churchill  (1843)  are  scarcely  less  efficient  in  the 
church  than  clergymen.  When  I  asked  the  pastor 
of  one  of  them  if  he  was  not  a  valuable  worker, 
he  replied,  "  Invaluable !  "  Wherever  in  any  profes- 
sion, or  in  any  sphere  of  life,  our  alumni  have  made 
the  world  better,  they  have  contributed  to  Christian 
progress.  Only  Omniscience  can  estimate  the  exact 
value  of  their  lives.  Beneficent  influence  is  too 
subtle,  too  elusive,  for  perfect  measurement  by  man. 
It  is  pleasant  to  consider  ourselves,  for  the  time  at 
least,  at  this  Centennial,  as  one  brotherhood,  without 
distinction  of  time  or  space,  of  profession,  or  de- 
nomination, or  politics,  —  each  sharing  the  honors 
of  all,  and  every  one  valuing  every  other  as  an  hon- 
ored member  of  the  same  body.  The  breadth  and 
catholicity  of  our  work  afford  us  especial  satisfac- 
tion. All  the  great  religious  bodies  have  been 
represented.  In  the  Roman  Catholic  communion, 
the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  Edgar  P.  Wadhams 
(1838)  was  known  as  a  resourceful  and  indefati- 
gable prelate.  In  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
Bishops  John  P.  K.  Henshaw  (1808)  and  Ozi  W. 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  45 

Whitaker  (1856),  of  Rhode  Island  and  of  Penn- 
sylvania, have  been  distinguished  for  fidelity  and 
usefulness.  In  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
President  Stephen  Olin  (1820)  and  many  others 
have  been  eminent.  In  the  Baptist  Church  were 
George  B.  Ide  (1830),  Ira  Chase  (1814),  and  Profes- 
sor Thomas  J.  Conant  (1823),  a  great  scholar  and 
member  of  the  Bible  Revision  Committee.  Of  Pres- 
byterians, there  have  been  three  Moderators  of  the 
General  Assembly,  and  many  prominent  pastors 
and  teachers.  Of  Congregationalists,  a  still  larger 
number  have  held  positions  of  prominence.  Among 
Universalists,  few  have  stood  higher  for  scholarship 
and  literary  ability  than  Thomas  J.  Sawyer  (1829). 
Dr.  Sawyer  but  recently  passed  away,  seventy  years 
after  graduation,  having  been  long  ago  honored 
with  a  doctorate  from  Harvard,  and  having  held 
the  highest  appointments  of  his  denomination.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  two  or  three  men  in  his  denomi- 
nation, according  to  a  competent  judge.  Nearly  the 
same  would  be  said,  on  similar  authority,  in  their 
respective  denominations,  of  Beman,  Olin,  Howe, 
Conant,  Post,  Whitaker,  and  Wadhams.  Our  breth- 
ren, in  almost  all  the  various  walks  of  life,  have 
received  most  of  the  tokens  of  public  respect  which 
are  possible  to  American  citizens.  For  one  of  our 
number,  Senator  Silas  Wright,  the  merchants  of 
New  York  City  contributed  a  service  of  plate  valued 
at  eighteen  thousand  dollars.     In  honor  of  another, 


46  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

a  professorship  of  law  has  been  endowed  in  Yale 
University;  and  the  same  Ambassador  Phelps,  al- 
though a  Democrat,  was  appointed  by  a  Republican 
President  on  a  most  important  case  of  international 
arbitration. 

The  desire  for  a  college  in  Vermont  before  its 
establishment  was  quickened  among  the  aspiring 
and  enterprising  pioneers  of  Middlebury  by  the 
visit  to  Colonel  Storrs,  in  1797,  of  a  farmer,  Mr. 
James  Evarts,  the  first  representative  in  the  legis- 
lature from  his  town  of  Georgia,  Vt.,  who  was 
taking  his  son  Jeremiah,  then  sixteen  years  of  age, 
to  Yale,  because,  although  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont had  already  been  chartered,  no  college  had 
been  as  yet  established  in  the  State.  It  illustrates 
what  may  be  involved  in  the  education  of  one 
Vermont  boy,  that  there  are  now  over  a  hundred 
living  descendants  of  that  lad,  more  than  twenty 
of  them  in  professional  life.  That  youth  had  a 
genius  for  hard  work,  and  made  "Ad  astra,  per 
aspera "  his  life  motto.  He  became  a  Christian 
lawyer,  of  whom  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  his  college 
associate  at  Yale,  himself  at  first  a  lawyer,  said 
that  he  was  abundantly  competent  to  have  been 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  He  achieved 
perhaps  a  higher  usefulness  as  Treasurer  and  Sec- 
retary of  the  American  Board,  in  which  service  his 
genius  contributed  essentially  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the   methods  and  the  policy  of  American 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  47 

missions  in  the  foreign  field.  His  son,  William  M. 
Evarts,  as  reported  by  Schuyler  Colfax,  was  de- 
clared by  Abraham  Lincoln  to  be,  in  his  judgment, 
best  adapted  of  all  the  Americans  of  his  day  to  be 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States ;  and  besides 
being  a  Senator,  Attorney-General,  and  Secretary 
of  State  of  the  United  States,  was  declared  by  Mr. 
Blaine  to  have  been  employed  on  more  illustrious 
arguments  at  law  than  any  other  American  law- 
yer. Other  such  lads  did  enter  at  Middlebury  Col- 
lege almost  as  soon  as  it  was  opened.  What  a 
magnificent  output  was  that  of  the  first  fifteen 
years,  while  the  College,  with  as  yet  only  three  or 
four  professors  and  tutors,  was  still  confined  to  the 
old  Academy  building,  which  stood  from  1797  to 
1868,  and  which  many  of  us  remember.  In  those 
few  classes  it  sent  forth  four  Governors,  six  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  an  illustrious  United  States  Sen- 
ator, an  able  Judge  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  a  Chief  Justice  and  several  Judges  of  the 
highest  State  Courts ;  an  Episcopal  Bishop,  a  Mod- 
erator of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly ;  dis- 
tinguished preachers  and  missionaries;  with  many 
others,  lawyers  and  ministers,  scarcely  less  eminent. 
President  Timothy  Dwight,  writing  at  that  time, 
said :  "  The  local  situation  of  Middlebury,  the 
sober  and  religious  character  of  the  inhabitants, 
render  it  a  very  desirable  seat  for  such  a  semi- 
nary. .  .  .  All  its  funds   have   been   derived   from 


48  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

private  donations,  chiefly  from  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town."  In  i8i  i  he  wrote  :  "  The  number  of  the 
students  is  now  one  hundred  and  ten  (as  many  as 
Yale  had  in  1796,  when  Dr.  D wight  became  presi- 
dent), probably  as  virtuous  a  collection  of  youth 
as  can  be  found  in  any  seminary  in  the  world." 
"  Twenty-five  years  ago,"  he  added,  "  this  spot  was 
a  wilderness." 

As  a  result  of  this  work  of  the  College,  and  of 
the  University  of  Vermont,  which  was  also  now 
exerting  extensive  influence,  and  of  the  schools 
and  academies,  Vermont  early  obtained  an  envi- 
able reputation  for  intelligence;  so  that  Daniel 
Webster,  a  little  later,  is  recorded  to  have  declared 
that  there  was  not  on  the  earth  a  more  intelligent 
average  population  than  that  of  Western  Vermont. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  any  of  the  older  col- 
leges in  the  country  can  show,  from  1800  to  181 5, 
while  the  work  was  still  confined  to  the  one  old  Acad- 
emy building,  a  larger  proportion  of  students  who 
attained  eminence  than  can  Middlebury  College. 

Vermonters  have  always  been  characterized  by  a 
certain  sturdy  independence.  When  Ethan  Allen 
was  promised  the  governorship  of  Vermont  if  he 
would  submit  to  British  rule,  he  referred  the  dele- 
gation to  another  tempter,  who  promised  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  on  a  similar  condition, — 
*'  while  the  poor  tempter  knew,  all  the  time,"  said 
Allen,  "  that  he  did  n't  own  a  foot  of  it."     In  gen- 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  49 

eral,  Vermont  has  been  characterized  as  in  favor 
of  sound  principles,  sound  morals,  sound  philoso- 
phy, sound  theology,  sound  politics,  and  sound 
money.  There  is  at  least  a  slight  distinctive  char- 
acteristic differentiating  the  graduates  of  every  col- 
lege from  those  of  another.  It  is  a  difference 
determined  by  their  origin,  history,  environment, 
students,  traditions,  resources,  and  teachers.  One 
college  is  superior  in  one  respect,  and  one  in 
another.  The  whole  body  of  educated  men  is 
enriched  by  these  varieties.  There  has  been  a 
peculiar  flavor  of  college  character  in  Middlebury, 
as  in  Harvard,  Yale,  and  Dartmouth.  There  has 
been  an  independence  and  downrightness,  remind- 
ing one  of  Bennington  and  Seth  Warner.  In  their 
sermons,  their  speeches  in  Congress,  their  books, 
their  wit,  their  politics,  and  their  theology,  they 
have  done  their  own  thinking  and  stood  for  a  pos- 
itive quantity,  a  little  distinguished  from  that  of 
any  others.  The  speeches  of  Silas  Wright  are 
easy  reading — plain,  simple,  and  forcible.  He 
says  a  thing,  and  then  goes  on  to  something  else. 
So  of  Beman,  Olin,  and  Hall ;  of  Nelson,  Roberts, 
and  Phelps.  A  keen  critic  said  he  thought  the 
sermons  of  President  Theodore  D.  Woolsey  the 
most  terse  and  condensed  he  ever  heard,  till  he 
listened  to  one  of  our  alumni. 

Early  in  the  century  there  sprang  up  numerous 
societies   for   evangelization,  philanthropy,  and  re- 
4 


so  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

form.  Of  these,  many  of  our  alumni  have  served 
as  secretaries  and  agents.  Walter  Chapin  (1803) 
was  Secretary  of  the  Vermont  Domestic  Missionary 
Society;  William  Slade  (1807),  of  the  Board  of 
Popular  National  Education;  Miles  P.  Squier 
(181 1),  of  the  Geneva  Agency  of  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society;  Otto  S.  Hoyt  (181 3), 
of  the  American  Education  Society ;  Benjamin 
Chase  (1814),  of  the  American  Bible  Society;  Or- 
son Douglass  (18 14),  of  the  Colonization  Society 
and  of  the  Seaman's  Society;  William  Patton 
(1818),  of  the  Presbyterian  Education  Society ;  Ira 
M.  Allen  (1820),  of  the  Baptist  Tract  Society; 
Henry  B.  Hooker  (182 1),  for  many  years,  of  the 
Massachusetts  Home  Missionary  Society;  Ova  P. 
Hoyt  (1821),  District  Secretary  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions ; 
George  C.  Beckwith  (1822),  for  thirty-five  years 
Secretary  of  the  American  Peace  Society ;  Walter 
Follett  (1825),  of  the  American  Tract  Society; 
John  Spaulding  (1825),  for  sixteen  years  Secretary 
of  the  American  Seaman's  Friend  Society;  Benja- 
min P.  Stone  (1828),  for  twenty-two  years  Secretary 
of  the  New  Hampshire  Home  Missionary  Society ; 
Sheridan  Guitteau  (1829),  of  the  Maryland  Tract 
Society,  and  of  the  Sunday  School  Union,  for  twen- 
ty-eight years.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield  (1829)  was 
Stated  Clerk  of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly 
for  thirty-seven  years,  and  also  a  Moderator  of  the 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  5 1 

General  Assembly.  John  W.  Chickering  (1826) 
was  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  and  also  of  the 
Congressional  Temperance  Societies.  Enoch  C. 
Wines  (1827)  founded  and  was  Secretary  of  the 
National  Prison  Association ;  Washington  Roose- 
velt (1829),  of  the  American  Protestant  Society. 
James  L.  Barton  (1881)  is  now  a  Secretary  of  the 
American  Board.  This  is  by  no  means  an  exhaust- 
ive list,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  show  how  widely  and 
actively  our  alumni  have  been  employed  in  the  pro- 
gressive work  of  the  Church,  and  in  the  service  of 
society  in  all  directions. 

Of  the  twenty-four  members  of  the  Class  of  1824, 
eighteen  became  clergymen :  four  Presbyterian,  six 
Episcopal,  seven  Congregational,  and  one  Baptist, 
illustrating  the  variety  of  fields  in  which  our  gradu- 
ates have  always  been  employed.  Time  forbids 
even  a  brief  specification  of  the  services  which  have 
been  rendered  by  our  brethren  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  philanthropy  and  reform.  A  volume,  rather 
than  a  brief  address,  would  be  required. 

The  removal  of  slavery  has  been  one  of  the  great 
events  of  American  history  during  the  past  century. 
John  Dickson  (1808)  is  said  to  have  made  the  first 
important  antislavery  speech  in  Congress.  William 
Slade  was  a  coadjutor  of  John  Quincy  Adams  in  the 
same  movement.  David  Root,  valedictorian  of 
the  Class  of  1816,  was  prominently  identified  with 
the  same  cause.     David  T.  Kimball  (1829)  was  one 


52  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

of  the  sixty-two  original  members  of  the  National 
Antislavery  Society.  Beriah  Green  (1819),  Jona- 
than Blanchard  (1832),  and  Jesse  Caswell  (1832), 
espoused  that  stirring  and  divisive  cause.  Charles 
Cleveland  (1824)  devoted  himself  to  the  elevation 
of  the  African  race.  Later,  Luke  Borland  (1841) 
labored  long  and  successfully  among  the  freedmen. 
William  A.  Howard  (1839),  as  chairman  of  the  Con- 
gressional committee  investigating,  on  the  ground, 
the  border  irregularities  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
troubles,  before  the  war,  promoted  effectively  the 
same  issues.  These,  of  course,  are  but  representa- 
tives of  many  others  equally  devoted  to  the  securing 
of  emancipation. 

Many  unique  and  striking  services  to  Christian 
progress  have  been  rendered  by  our  brethren,  of 
which  only  a  very  few  can  be  noticed.  Hall  J.  Kelly 
(181 3)  endeavored  to  colonize  Oregon.  Daniel 
Smith  (18 10)  made  an  early  missionary  exploration 
of  the  Southwest,  with  Samuel  J.  Mills.  Edwin 
James  (18 16)  was  attached  for  three  years  to  Major 
Long's  exploring  expedition  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, and  published  the  journal  of  that  expedition. 
He  also  published  nine  different  works,  five  of  them 
in  the  Ojibwa  language,  among  which  is  a  transla- 
tion of  the  whole  Bible.  Henry  Stowell  (181 6),  and 
William  D.  Cook  (1832),  especially  promoted  the 
interests  of  the  deaf  and  dumb.  Moses  Ordway 
(1820)  organized  the   first    Presbyterian  church  in 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  53 

Michigan,  at  Green  Bay,  in  1836.  Edwin  F.  Hat- 
field was  the  first  Presbyterian  home  missionary 
beyond  the  Mississippi.  Hiram  Chamberlain  (1822) 
was  the  first  Protestant  minister  settled  in  the  valley 
of  the  Rio  Grande.  Jonathan  A.  Shepherd  (1838), 
as  chaplain,  opened  the  first  Confederate  Congress 
with  prayer.  John  Thompson  (1826)  suffered  im- 
prisonment as  a  missionary  to  the  Cherokees. 
Enoch  C.  Wines  was  almost  the  father  of  prison 
reform  in  America.  Jonathan  Blanchard  was  the 
great  enemy  of  secret  societies.  If  any  of  these  our 
ardent  brethren  were  called  cranks,  yet  cranks  have 
their  use ;  they  bring  up  water  to  refresh  and  invig- 
orate others  of  less  active  temperament. 

As  preachers  and  pastors,  our  alumni  have  oc- 
cupied pulpits  in  almost  all  the  principal  cities  as 
well  as  country  districts  of  the  United  States,  from 
Bangor  to  New  Orleans,  and  to  the  Pacific  coast. 
In  many  of  these  they  have  been  eminent.  We 
need  only  name  Nathan  S.  S.  Beman  (1807),  Carlos 
Wilcox  (1813),  Sylvester  Earned  (1813),  Stephen 
Olin  (1820),  William  Patton  (1818),  Reuben  Post 
(1814),  Thomas  Charlton  Henry  (18 14),  Truman  M. 
Post  (1829),  Samuel  C.  Aiken  (18 14),  Harvey  D. 
Kitchel  (1835),  Henry  Smith  (1827),  Joel  H.  Linsley 
(1811),  George  B.  Ide  (1830),  Thomas  J.  Sawyer 
(1829),  among  the  deceased,  not  to  notice  living 
preachers  equally  distinguished.  Some  of  our  breth- 
ren have  rendered  very  long  professional  service. 


54  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

Luther  Sheldon  (1808)  was  pastor  at  Easton,  Mass., 
for  fifty-two  years;  Calvin  Hitchcock  (181 1),  in  Ran- 
dolph, Mass.,  thirty  years;  Samuel  C.  Aiken  (1814)^ 
in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Utica,  N.  Y., 
and  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  forty  years;  Reuben  Post,  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  about  forty  years. 
William  Patton  was  pastor  in  New  York  City  about 
thirty  years;  John  B.  Steele  (1818),  fifty-two  years; 
Isaac  N.  Sprague  (1822),  sixty-five  years;  John  W. 
Chickering,  in  Portland,  Me.,  thirty  years ;  Martin 
M.  Post  (1826),  in  Logansport,  Ind.,  thirty-five  years; 
Erdix  Tenny  (1826),  in  Lyme,  N.  H.,  thirty-seven 
years;  Cyrus  B.  Drake  (1834),  in  Royalton,  Vt, 
forty  years ;  Truman  M.  Post,  in  St.  Louis,  thirty- 
one  years;  Charles  Goodrich  (1834),  in  New  Or- 
leans, thirty-three  years.  Byron  Sunderland  (1838) 
has  been  a  pastor  in  Washington,  D.  C,  forty-five 
years.  George  Howe  (1822),  having  taken  the 
valedictory  here  and  at  Andover,  and  having  been 
appointed  Phillips  Professor  of  Theology  in  Dart- 
mouth College,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  was  com- 
pelled, for  the  sake  of  health,  to  remove  to  South 
Carolina.  He  was  there  for  over  fifty-one  years, 
Professor  and  President  of  Columbia  Theological 
Seminary.  The  semicentennial  of  his  inauguration 
as  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  was  celebrated, 
with  great  interest,  in  November,  1881.  His  pupils 
came  together  from  all  parts  of  the  South.     "  With 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  55 

grand  and  massive  head,"  said  the  journals  of  the 
day,  "saintly  and  venerable  was  his  appearance." 
He  continued  to  be  a  severe  student  and  careful 
author  to  the  end. 

Some  of  these  men  have  wielded  surprising  power 
in  the  pulpit.  Professor  Fitch,  of  Yale,  used  to  cite 
Carlos  Wilcox  as  a  model  sermonizer.  Sylvester 
Larned  probably  stands  alone  among  American 
preachers  for  the  impression  he  made  and  the  fame 
he  achieved  at  so  early  an  age,  dying  at  the  post  of 
duty  the  day  he  was  twenty-four.  Thomas  Charlton 
Henry  became  so  conspicuous  that  Yale  conferred 
upon  him  a  doctorate  when  he  had  been  only  ten 
years  out  of  college.  "  Doctor  Beman,  when  aroused," 
said  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Vermont,  "  was 
equal  to  any  three  men  you  ever  heard."  Stephen 
Olin  would  at  times  hold  vast  audiences  entranced 
and  breathless  with  his  burning  logic  and  the  irre- 
sistible power  of  his  earnestness.  Few  American 
preachers  have  mingled  more  of  logic  and  of  poetry 
than  Truman  M.  Post.  Assuredly  we  have  had  our 
place  among  the  sacred  orators  of  the  American 
pulpit.  Several  of  our  number  have  been  chaplains 
in  Congress,  in  both  House  and  Senate,  and  also  in 
the  State  legislatures  and  in  the  Army  and  Navy.  A 
still  higher  place  is  due,  perhaps,  to  those  who  have 
gone  forth  to  the  work  of  home  and  foreign  mis- 
sions. It  shows  how  widely  diffused  the  influence 
of  this  College  has  been,  to  notice  how  many  of  our 


56  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

alumni  have  done  an  important  part,  or  the  whole, 
of  their  life-work  in  the  South,  —  Beman,  Larned, 
Olin,  Thomas  Charlton  Henry,  Keith  (1814),  Hen- 
shaw,  Rhodes  (181 5),  Chamberlain,  Chase,  Gilder- 
sleeve  (18 14),  Reuben  and  Truman  M.  Post.  Eleven 
of  the  twenty-eight  members  of  the  distinguished 
Class  of  18 14  made  their  homes  in  the  South. 
Howe,  Sunderland,  Rankin  (1848),  and  many  others 
in  more  recent  years,  have  labored  south  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line.  Some  of  our  number  have  long 
had  a  fixed  place,  as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude,  in 
the  history  of  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  Pliny 
Fisk  (18 14),  though  he  died  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
three,  preached  in  five  languages.  There  is  some- 
thing akin  to  genius,  though  higher,  in  the  mingled 
natural  and  spiritual  endowments  with  which  God 
seems  pleased,  in  every  generation,  to  enrich  some 
favored  individuals.  They  become  ensamples  and 
especial  witnesses  to  the  ever-living  power  of  Chris- 
tianity. Such  were  Fisk  and  Parsons.  Their  names 
will  ever  be  associated,  like  double  stars,  in  the 
galaxy  of  our  heavens.  Both  died  young.  Though 
superior,  they  were  not  very  much  distinguished  for 
scholarship  while  here  in  College.  They  sought 
things  above.  They  were  often  found  with  Wins- 
low,  Morton  (1812),  Messer  (1816),  and  others  en- 
gaged in  revival  meetings,  in  the  school-houses 
about  Middlebury.  Perhaps  they  did  not  enough 
set  their  hearts  upon  things  on  the  earth,  especially 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  57 

in  the  recitation-room.  It  is  certain  that  they  did 
mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles.  They  became  dif- 
ferent and  superior  beings.  Men  took  knowledge 
of  them  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus,  and  had 
learned  of  Him.  Professor  Park  says  that  for  ten 
years  after  he  had  left,  the  personal  influence  of 
Pliny  Fisk  was  felt  as  a  spiritual  power  in  Andover 
Theological  Seminary.  Secretary  Rufus  Anderson 
said  that  Mr.  Fisk's  niece.  Miss  Fidelia  Fisk,  seemed 
to  him  more  like  our  Saviour  than  any  person  he 
had  ever  known,  so  perfectly  unobtrusive  and  so 
perfectly  appropriate  seemed  her  every  word  and 
act ;  and  in  this,  he  said,  she  reproduced  the  singular 
personality  of  her  uncle.  Levi  Parsons  (1814)  died 
at  Alexandria,  Egypt,  in  1822,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
nine.  Mr.  Fisk  was  with  him  to  the  end,  and  their 
conversation  was  of  the  things  of  the  kingdom. 
Even  after  Mr.  Parsons  had  fallen  asleep  for  the 
last  time,  as  if  his  heart  wakened,  his  lips  still  mur- 
mured, in  beatific  tones,  words  of  Holy  Writ.  Sud- 
denly there  came  a  startling  change,  —  the  silver 
cord  was  loosed,  the  golden  bowl  was  broken, — and 
our  brother  who  had  been  familiar  with  these  college 
scenes  passed  into  a  world  where  he  was  more  at 
home  than  on  this  earth.  The  foreign  consuls  and 
other  Europeans  in  Alexandria  followed  his  remains, 
with  tokens  of  the  highest  honor,  to  the  grave.  The 
exact  place  of  his  burial  was  afterward  lost,  and  no 
man  knoweth  the  place  of  his  sepulchre  to  this  day. 


58  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

Professor  Hough  well  said  of  him,  fifty  years  ago, 
that  some  of  Mr.  Parsons'  last  written  words  would 
do  honor  to  any  intellect.  They  evinced  powers 
which,  if  employed  in  other  channels,  might  have 
made  him  not  less  conspicuous  in  public  life  than 
his  nephew  and  namesake,  the  donor  to  Middlebury 
College, — diplomatist,  governor,  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  Hon.  Levi  Parsons  Morton. 
The  death  of  Mr.  Fisk,  at  Beirut,  a  few  years  later, 
made  a  still  deeper  impression.  He  seemed  indis- 
pensable to  the  mission.  The  whole  population, 
native  and  foreign,  diplomatic  as  well  as  missionary, 
deplored  his  death.  His  triumphant  end  was  a  fresh 
demonstration  of  Christianity.  The  Arabs  won- 
dered, and  could  not  conceive  it  possible  that  a 
human  being  could  be  so  ready  to  die.  Of  such 
sons,  and  of  others  seeking  the  same  aims,  in  every 
department  of  life,, doubtless  our  Alma  Mater  says 
with  Cornelia,  "  These  are  my  jewels." 

Middlebury  College  has  sent  forth  five  hundred 
and  seventy  ministers,  of  whom  thirty-nine  were 
foreign  missionaries,  all  with  substantially  the  same 
spirit  as  Fisk  and  Parsons.  They  have  been  useful 
and  honored  in  every  part  of  the  world,  and  their 
graves  are  scattered  among  all  people.  When  the 
sea  shall  give  up  its  dead,  Warren  (1808),  Wins- 
low,  and  Keith,  and  perhaps  others,  will  come  forth 
from  its  depths  to  glory.  Their  names  will  hold 
places   of   honor   on  the  final  roll  of  the  church 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  59 

triumphant.  When  George  C.  Knapp  (1852)  died 
at  Bitlis,  Turkey,  where  he  had  labored  for  forty 
years,  the  whole  city  mourned  for  him ;  the  Grego- 
rian ecclesiastics  tenderly  desired  to  bury  him  in 
their  own  consecrated  ground,  and,  when  this  could 
not  be  granted,  they  attended  his  obsequies,  as  a 
token  of  respect,  in  their  full  canonicals.  Miron 
Winslow  (181 5)  rendered  such  eminent  service  to 
Oriental  linguistic  studies  by  his  Tamil  Dictionary 
that  Harvard  University  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  Hiram  Bingham  (1816)  wall  ever 
remain  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  in  the 
history  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  He  became  the 
pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  local  churches  of  mod- 
ern times,  composed  of  natives  converted  by  hun- 
dreds from  the  lowest  heathenism.  Several  of  our 
alumni  have  been  employed  in  the  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  heathen  languages.  Lyman  B.  Peet 
(1834)  translated  the  whole  New  Testament  and  a 
part  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Chinese.  Sylvester 
B.  Partridge  (1861)  has  also  translated  a  part  of  the 
Bible  into  one  of  the  dialects  of  China.  All  this  is 
a  record  of  peculiar  honor.  The  foreign  missionary 
work  seems  to  be  in  many  respects  the  highest 
allotted  to  man  on  earth.  If  God  became  incarnate 
to  save  men,  and  if  men  are  destined  to  eternal  sin- 
fulness and  suffering  if  not  so  saved,  what  other 
enterprise  can  compare  wuth  that  of  bringing  this 
salvation  within  their  knowledge.?      In   Christian 


6o  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

lands  all  men  have  that  knowledge,  and  can  be 
saved  if  they  will.  When  the  inmates  of  a  burning 
house  have  been  awakened,  and  can  escape,  they 
certainly  have  less  further  claim  than  those  sleep- 
ing in  other  burning  houses,  who  are  not  as  yet 
aroused.  The  thousand  millions  of  the  race  not  yet 
evangelized  seem  to  make  the  greater  demand  upon 
Christian  effort. 

Much  of  the  best  work  of  the  College  has  been 
done  in  furnishing  the  country  with  teachers. 
Thirty-two  of  the  alumni  have  been  college  presi- 
dents, and  ninety-eight  professors  in  colleges  and 
theological  seminaries.  Others  have  been  promi- 
nent teachers  of  academies  or  founders,  benefac- 
tors, or  directors  of  important  schools.  Salem 
Town  (1805)  opened  the  first  teachers'  institute, 
and  was  the  author  of  numerous  school-books. 
Miles  P.  Squier  (1811)  effected  much  through  the 
Geneva  Institute,  which  he  founded  and  sustained. 
Henry  Howe  (181 7)  was  a  leading  teacher  at  Cas- 
tleton,  Vt,  and  at  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.  At  Castle- 
ton  Academy  there  were  said  to  be  at  one  time  six 
students  who  subsequently  took  the  valedictory  at 
Yale  and  in  the  other  colleges  to  which  they  went. 
At  Canandaigua,  Mr.  Howe  instructed  Senator 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  other  distinguished  men. 
Middlebury  has  furnished  two  presidents  to  Mari- 
etta College,  and  two  to  Knox  College.  Chauncey 
W.  Fitch  (1825)  was  the  first  President  of  the  Uni- 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  6 1 

versity  of  Michigan.  Alonzo  Church  (1816)  was 
President  of  Franklin  College,  Ga.,  for  thirty-three 
years,  and  educated  many  prominent  Southern 
statesmen  and  clergymen.  Carlisle  P.  Beman(i8i8) 
was  long  President  of  Oglethorpe  University  in  the 
same  State.  Franceway  R.  Cossitt  (181 3)  was  a 
college  president  in  Tennessee  for  twenty-five  years. 
Benjamin  Chase  (18 14)  was  the  largest  early  donor 
to  Austin  College,  Texas,  giving  to  it  $25,000,  un- 
der the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Baker,  D.D. 
Norman  F.  and  Truman  K.  Wright  (1839)  were 
successful  teachers  in  Central  New  York  for  about 
fifty  years.  Albert  Hurd  (1850)  has  been  connected 
with  Knox  College,  and  Allen  P.  Northrop  (185 1) 
with  Flushing  Institute  for  nearly  half  a  century. 
The  late  Daniel  D.  Gorham  (1847),  of  Northamp- 
ton, Mass.,  was  an  efficient  teacher  nearly  as  long. 
Edward  J.  Hallock  (1833)  was  Principal  of  Castleton 
Seminary  for  eighteen  years,  and  fitted  many  stu- 
dents for  Middlebury.  Nine  members  of  the  Class 
of  1 85 1  had  been  under  his  instruction. 

In  other  ways  the  alumni  have  promoted  the 
great  work  of  education.  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Walker, 
valedictorian  of  the  Class  of  1858,  was  for  ten  years 
a  Commissioner  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  and  was  esteemed  one  of  the 
ablest,  most  faithful,  and  most  successful  occu- 
pants of  that  important  office.  Of  vigorous  intel- 
lect,  sound  judgment,  and  thorough  discipline,  he 


62  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

was  a  man  of  continually  increasing  reputation, 
which  promised  further  advancement  in  public 
life,  if  he  had  not  been  cut  off  in  the  full  vigor 
of  manhood.  Solomon  Foot  (1826)  did  some  of 
his  best  work  as  a  tutor  in  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont and  as  the  builder  of  the  present  spacious 
edifice  of  Castleton  Seminary.  Howard  Univer- 
sity, established  for  the  elevation  of  an  emanci- 
pated race,  has  for  eleven  years  flourished  under 
the 'administration  of  Dr.  Jeremiah  E.  Rankin. 
Maryville  College,  founded  by  Southerners  but 
opened  to  all  races,  has  been  enlarged  and 
strengthened  during  the  same  period. 

The  work  of  the  teacher  is  peculiar  in  this, 
that  his  pupils  remain  of  the  same  age.  The  waters 
change,  but  the  river  is  the  same.  The  pupils 
whom  I  have  taught  during  the  past  year  are 
of  the  same  age  as  were  my  classes  here  of  i860 
and  1 86 1.  I  can  scarcely  realize  that  the  gradu- 
ates of  i860  now  average  sixty  years  of  age,  and 
are  here  to-day  with  their  children  and  grand- 
children. I  cannot  forbear  to  recognize  the  manly 
work  done  in  life  by  the  members  of  the  five 
classes  who  came  under  my  instruction  from  i860 
to  1864.  They  have  in  a  good  measure  obeyed 
the  injunction  of  the  text  from  which  the  Bac- 
calaureate was  preached  by  me  forty  years  ago : 
'*  Whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily."  Forty-nine 
members  of  those  classes  entered  the  Union  army. 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS 


63 


The  first  and  tenderest  tribute  is  due  to  those 
who  paid  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion  to  their 
country,  dying  on  the  battle-field  or  in  the  hospital : 
Bennett,  Eaton  (1862),  Converse  (1862),  Crane, 
and  Williamson.  To  these  I  must  add  the  names 
of  Miles  P.  S.  Cadwell  (1859),  who  was  my  pupil  at 
Castleton  Seminary,  and  of  John  Q.  Dickinson 
(i860),  who  was  later  assassinated,  scarcely  less  in 
the  service  of  his  country.  Fourteen  of  the  forty- 
nine  who  w^ere  enlisted  were  captains  or  held 
higher  offices.  Members  of  these  five  classes  have 
become  distinguished  as  clergymen,  lawyers,  jurists, 
physicians,  journalists,  financiers,  and  teachers. 
Seven  of  them  are  on  the  present  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, and  it  is  an  especial  gratification  that  one  of 
them  has  been  for  the  last  fourteen  years  Presi- 
dent of  the  College,  —  one  who  had  before  that 
rendered  an  honorable  service  as  instructor  from 
the  day  of  his  graduation,  with  the  exception  of 
two  years  at  Andover,  amounting  to  a  longer  term 
of  service  than  any  other  teacher  but  one  has  ren- 
dered to  Middlebury  College.  May  he  long  continue 
with  growing  usefulness  and  honor  to  adorn  this 
high  and  arduous  office.  It  is  also  a  matter  of  grati- 
tude and  pride  that  members  of  these  classes  have 
contributed  so  liberally  to  the  recent  endowments 
of  the  College  and  the  erection  of  new  buildings. 
One  can  scarcely  forbear  to  notice  on  this  occa- 
sion how  many  of  our  alumni  of  great  promise  have 


64  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

been  cut  off  in  early  life.  Charles  G.  Haines  (1816) 
was  declared  by  Daniel  Webster  to  be  the  most  bril- 
liant man  in  the  country,  though  he  was  spared  only 
nine  years  after  graduation,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty-two.  Fisk,  Parsons,  Wilcox,  Larned,  Henry 
(1814),  and  Allen,  all  died  early  ;  in  later  years,  Sam- 
uel M.  Conant  (1844) ;  Eber  D.  Munger  (1842),  who 
was  expected  to  become  Professor  of  the  Natural 
Sciences;  Thomas  S.  Pearson  (1851),  biographer 
and  historian;  James  E.  Pierce  (1861);  William  H. 
Button  (1861);  and  many  others.  The  thoughts 
of  the  Divine  Disposer  of  human  lives  are  above 
ours,  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth. 

Christian  progress  has  been  promoted  through 
all  the  professions.  In  the  nature  of  things,  laws 
must  be  chiefly  enacted  and  executed  by  those 
learned  and  skilful  in  the  law.  Law  is  a  noble,  a 
beneficent,  a  sacred  profession.  While  the  minis- 
ters more  directly  study  the  word  of  God,  and  strive 
to  bring  individuals  and  communities  to  righteous- 
ness, yet  it  must  ever  be  the  province  of  Christian 
lawyers  to  guide  public  sentiment  into  right  chan- 
nels, to  practicable  measures ;  and  to  consolidate  it 
into  safe  and  useful  legislation.  The  late  Edward 
J.  Phelps  was  a  great  lawyer.  He  loved  the  study 
of  law  for  its  own  sake.  He  traced  back  its  princi- 
ples to  their  Divine  origin  in  natural  and  revealed 
religion.  Judge  Swift  relates,  in  his  history  of  Mid- 
dlebury  that  Samuel  Phelps,  in  his  discourse  on  the 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  65 

death  of  Daniel  Webster,  in  1852,  dwelt  much  on 
the  conviction,  by  which  he  was  deeply  impressed, 
that  the  perpetuity  of  our  civil  and  political  institu- 
tions would  depend  wholly  on  the  prevalence  of 
Christian  principles  among  the  people.  His  son, 
the  late  eminent  Ambassador  to  England,  and  Yale 
Professor  of  Law,  was  yet  more  decidedly  of  the 
same  opinion.  In  the  early  history  of  Middlebury 
College  there  was  a  professorship  of  law,  filled  by 
Daniel  Chipman,  LL.D.,  and  Nathaniel  Chipman, 
LL.D.,  who  erected  an  ample  building  for  a  prospec- 
tive law  school,  thus  looking  toward  a  university 
scheme,  which,  however,  was  never  realized.  Pro- 
fessor Hough  also  held  for  several  years  a  professor- 
ship of  sacred  theology,  and  a  number  of  young 
men  studied  divinity  here.  A  large  body  of  medical 
students  likewise,  although  they  attended  lectures 
elsewhere,  received  their  diplomas  from  Middlebury 
College.  Through  its  lawyers,  the  College  has 
achieved  much  of  its  best  work;  three  hundred  and 
sixty-seven  of  our  alumni  have  been  lawyers,  and 
fifty-two  judges. 

The  medical  profession  has  been  not  less  useful 
and  honored,  ninety-three  having  become  physi- 
cians. The  care  of  that  body  in  which  man  bears 
the  image  of  God,  is  committed  to  the  physician. 
It  is  a  body  in  which  Christ  became  incarnate ;  in 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells  as  His  temple ;  a  body 
which  shall  yet  be  changed,  in  the  resurrection, 
5 


66  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

and  become  incorruptible  and  immortal,  like  unto 
Christ's  glorious  body.  The  care,  with  scientific 
skill,  of  such  a  tenement  of  the  immortal  spirit  is  a 
noble,  a  sacred  calling.  To  relieve  pain,  to  heal  dis- 
ease, to  restore  and  preserve  health,  to  promote 
physical  vigor,  development,  and  enjoyment,  is  a 
beneficent  service.  Among  the  alumni,  how  many 
have  been  known,  in  thousands  of  grateful  homes, 
as  beloved  physicians.  Gowdy  (1819),  Piatt  (181 2), 
Cutter  (1814),  Eaton  (1825),  C.  C.  P.  Clark  (1843), 
the  Aliens  (1842  and  1845),  Bass  (1832),  Ross  (1852), 
Walker  (i860),  Eddy  (i860),  Hemenway  (1864),  and 
many  others  come  to  mind.  When  the  body  of  Alfred 
J.  Long  (1851),  who  had  practised  medicine  for  forty 
years  in  Whitehall,  N.  Y.,  was  borne  through  its 
streets  to  burial,  places  of  business  were  closed  in 
token  of  a  public  bereavement.  For  many  of  our 
brethren  who  have  died  as  village  or  city  pastors, 
the  general  mourning  has  been  deep  and  sincere. 
The  casket  which  contained  the  body  of  Edwin  F. 
Hatfield  (1829),  who  addressed  the  Philadelphian 
Society  in  1850,  and  who  had  been  one  of  the  most 
successful  winners  of  souls  in  New  York  City,  was 
left,  after  all  the  public  ceremonies  of  burial  were 
over,  on  the  border  of  the  grave,  for  private  inter- 
ment ;  several  gray -haired  men,  who  had  been  won 
to  Christ  in  their  youth  by  the  fervid  ministry  of 
their  then  young  pastor,  were  seen  bending  tenderly 
over  his  casket,  each  to  secure  a  memorial  lock  of 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  67 

hair  commemorative  of  one  who  had  long  before 
led  them  to  become  reconciled  to  God.  The  same 
affection  has  followed  hundreds  of  our  brethren  to 
their  final  rest. 

In  respect  to  literary  work,  our  alumni  have  done 
much  as  editors  and  authors.  Salem  Town,  David 
B.  Tower  (1828),  Henry  Smith,  John  J.  Owen  (1828), 
R.  D.  C.  Robbins  (1835),  Henry  N.  Hudson  (1840), 
Thomas  J.  Conant,  Brainerd  Kellogg  (1858),  Clar- 
ence E.  Blake  (1873),  and  others  have  furnished 
approved  and  widely  used  text-books  for  academies, 
colleges,  and  professional  schools.  In  romance,  the 
works  of  Daniel  P.  Thompson  (1820)  seem  likely  to 
be  read  as  long  as  the  Otter  Creek  flows  and  the 
Green  Mountains  stand.  We  have  an  assured  place 
in  poetry;  the  poems  of  one  of  our  number,  John  G. 
Saxe  (1839),  have  gone  through  more  than  forty 
editions  in  this  country  and  in  England.  In  criti- 
cism, also,  we  have  a  place  through  the  works  of 
Henry  N.  Hudson  ;  in  biography,  through  Daniel 
O.  Morton  (1812),  Joseph  H.  Barrett  (1845),  ^"d 
others ;  in  reports  and  digests  of  law,  through  Dan- 
iel Roberts  and  others ;  in  projects  for  civil  reform, 
through  Dr.  C.  C.  P.  Clark ;  in  authorship  and  col- 
lections of  hymns,  through  the  labors  of  Beman, 
Burnap  Hatfield,  Rankin,  and  Hiram  Mead  (1850). 
It  is  certainly  something  that  wherever  English- 
speaking  people  meet  and  part,  they  sing,  in  the 
words  of  one  of  our  number,  "  God  be  with  you  till 


68  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

we  meet  again."  Especially  in  classical  and  Biblical 
criticism  have  Owen,  Robbins,  Smith,  and  Charles 
M.  Mead  (1856),  a  member  of  the  Bible  Revision 
Committee,  rendered  eminent  service  to  American 
scholarship. 

Many  of  our  graduates  have  been  ambitious  of 
post-graduate  and  foreign  study.  In  Germany  they 
have  attended  the  lectures  of  Neander,  Schelling, 
Hengstenberg,  Jacob  Grimm,  Carl  Ritter,  Gesenius, 
Roediger,  Ewald,  and  others  of  more  recent  times. 
In  later  years,  several  of  the  younger  alumni  have 
distinguished  themselves  as  specialists  in  different 
departments  of  science. 

The  higher  education  of  American  women  was 
inaugurated  in  Middlebury  by  Mrs.  Emma  Willard. 
Its  first  school  was  conducted  by  her  here  from 
1807  to  1 819,  when  it  was  removed  to  Troy,  N.  Y. 
It  there  acquired  a  national  reputation,  and  con- 
tributed as  much,  perhaps,  as  any  other  insti- 
tution to  promote  the  higher  female  education 
throughout  the  world.  For  seventeen  years  Mid- 
dlebury College  has  contributed  to  Christian  prog- 
ress by  the  education  of  the  daughters  as  well  as 
the  sons  of  the  people. 

In  respect  to  philosophy,  theology,  and  practical 
religion,  Middlebury  College  has  always  held  a  high 
position.  Revivals  were  frequent  from  the  begin- 
ning. Here  Beman,  Larned,  and  many  others  first 
heard  the  call  of  God  to  preach,  and  became  flames 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  69 

of  fire.  Here  the  lips  of  many  ministers,  evange- 
lists, and  foreign  missionaries  have  been  touched  as 
with  a  coal  from  off  the  altar.  Few  classes  have 
been  graduated  without  passing  through  one  or 
more  such  seasons  of  especial  spiritual  blessing. 
This  place  is  favorable  for  such  influences.  There 
is  something  in  mountain  scenery  which  constrains 
the  human  heart  to  say,  "  I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes 
unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh  my  help,"  and 
to  repose  in  the  assurance  that  as  the  mountains 
are  round  about,  so  the  Lord  is  round  about  them 
that  trust  in  Him.  The  first  settlers  of  Vermont, 
whether  professedly  religious  or  not,  felt  these 
influences,  and  spontaneously  went  back  to  first 
principles  and  to  God.  It  is  historic  that  Ethan 
Allen,  when  demanding  the  instant  surrender  of 
Fort  Ticonderoga,  did  it  "in  the  name  of  Almighty 
God ; "  and  that  Judge  Harrington,  when  refusing 
to  surrender  a  fugitive  slave,  based  his  decision  on 
the  ground  that  no  claim  to  a  man  could  be  valid 
which  did  not  include  a  bill  of  sale  from  his  Creator. 
There  were  bands  of  praying  women,  elect  ladies, 
in  the  early  days  of  the  College,  in  Middlebury  and 
elsewhere,  who  bore  it  on  their  hearts,  aided  needy 
students,  and  were  a  source  of  influence  in  bringing 
the  College  to  permanence  and  power.  Indeed, 
Middlebury  College  was  for  many  years,  we  hope  it 
still  is,  a  part  of  the  religion  of  the  Congregational 
churches  in  its  vicinity.     Especial  answer  to  prayer 


70  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

was  certainly  manifest  in  the  brilliant    product  of 
the  first  fifteen  years. 

Our  Alma  Mater  has  not  been  identified  with  any 
limited  philosophic  school.  As  Dr.  Bates  said  in 
1850,  her  system  has  been  substantially  natural  real- 
ism, or  rather,  theistic  realism;  holding  all  knowl- 
edge, both  subjective  and  objective,  concerning  both 
mind  and  matter,  to  be  real,  and  vouched  for  by  the 
benevolence  and  veracity  of  God.  In  theology,  her 
standard  has  always  been  truth  ;  her  creed,  the  Bible  ; 
and  her  faith,  that  once  delivered  to  the  saints. 
Not  less  than  twenty  of  our  number  have  been  pro- 
fessors in  the  theological  seminaries  of  the  different 
denominations,  and  others  have  declined  similar 
appointments.  Their  influence  has  been  at  once 
progressive  and  conservative.  They  have,  in  gen- 
eral, accepted  nothing  and  surrendered  nothing, 
except  upon  sufficient  evidence.  George  Howe 
was  president  and  professor  of  a  theological  semi- 
nary for  fifty-five  years;  Marcus  T.  C.  Wing  (1820), 
twelve  years  ;  Thomas  J.  Conant  (1823),  twenty-two 
years;  Edwin  Hall  (1826),  twenty-two  years;  Ira 
Chase  (1814),  twenty  years;  Eli  B.  Smith  (1823), 
twenty-eight  years;  Henry  Smith  (1827),  twenty 
years;  James  A.  B.  Stone  (1834),  in  seminary  and 
college,  thirty-one  years;  Thomas  J.  Saw^yer  (1829), 
fifteen  years;  George  N.  Boardman  (1847),  tw^enty- 
two  years;  Hiram  Mead  (1850),  twelve  years; 
Charles  M.  Mead  (1856),  twenty  years;  Francis  B. 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  7 1 

Denio  (1871),  eighteen  years.  Besides  these, 
Burge  (1806),  Beman  (1807),  Henshaw  (1808), 
Hascall  (1806),  Winchester  (1847),  Squier  (181 1), 
Herman  Hooker  (1825),  and  many  others  have 
published  able  works  on  theology  and  philosophy. 
General  Thomas  was  called  the  Rock  of  Chica- 
mauga,  because,  as  an  impregnable  tower,  he  with- 
stood and  turned  back  the  assaults  of  the  enemy. 
Edwin  Hall  (1826)  was  the  Rock  of  Orthodox 
Theology.  While  ready  and  eager  to  welcome 
light  from  whatever  source,  the  influence  of  Middle- 
bury  graduates  has  been  on  the  whole  conservative ; 
and  it  is  so  now,  in  respect  to  the  present  move- 
ment of  philosophical  and  theological  thought. 
When  we  were  here  fifty  years  ago,  the  idea  of 
development,  derived  from  German  speculations, 
was  familiar.  We  had  here  distinctly  before  us,  ten 
years  before  Darwin  published  his  startling  hypoth- 
esis, the  question  whether  the  universe  is  a  creation 
or  a  mere  development  of  impersonal  and  uncon- 
scious forces.  Yet  notwithstanding  the  scepticism 
that  has  to  some  extent  prevailed  in  varying  forms 
during  the  past  century,  there  can  be  no  reasonable 
question  that  the  prevalence  and  power  of  evangeli- 
cal religion  have  been  steadily  on  the  increase. 
When  the  enemy  shall  come  in  like  a  flood,  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a  standard  against 
him.  The  proportion  of  those  professedly  religious, 
in  the  whole  population,  is  much   larger  in   19CX) 


72  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

than  it  was  in  1800,  especially  in  the  colleges.  In 
Yale  it  is  probably  four  times  as  large.  Notwith- 
standing much  infidelity  and  much  immorality, 
revivals  have  been  frequent  and  powerful  through- 
out the  century.  About  the  end  of  the  first  decade, 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  was  formed,  and  during  the  second  decade, 
or  soon  afterward,  the  Bible,  Tract,  Temperance, 
Home  Missionary,  and  many  other  societies  were 
established.  Later  came  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  and  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association,  and  women's  societies  in  great  num- 
bers, and  of  large  variety ;  still  more  recently  Socie- 
ties of  Christian  Endeavor  and  innumerable  leagues 
for  Christian  work.  The  material  dominion  of 
Christian  nations  over  the  world  has  probably  been 
doubled  within  the  past  century,  and  Christian  mis- 
sions have  entered  almost  every  unevangelized 
land.  In  wealth  and  in  mihtant  power,  Christianity 
is  already  in  undisputed  ascendency.  It  cannot 
but  be  matter  for  sincere  congratulation  with  us 
that  our  College  has  been  permitted  to  have  so 
large  part,  and  in  so  many  ways,  in  this  great 
Christian  progress. 

The  people  of  Middlebury  have  always  given  a 
genial  welcome  to  the  College  and  its  alumni,  as 
they  did  in  1850  and  do  at  this  Centennial.  In- 
deed, the  College  was  founded,  not  by  the  Church 
or  State  outside  of  Middlebury,  primarily,  but  by 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  73 

the  intelligent,  aspiring,  benevolent,  and  religious 
people  of  this  place.  No  alumnus  ever  failed  to 
receive  a  cordial  greeting  on  his  return,  so  long  as 
Philip  Battell  lived,  and  he  lived  to  cheer  us  with 
his  suavity  and  kindness  till  he  was  ninety  years 
of  age. 

The  seven  classes  with  whom  we  were  associated 
in  student  days,  from  1847  to  1851,  remember  all 
our  instructors  with  pleasure  and  with  high  respect : 
President  Labaree,  prompt,  faithful,  friendly,  ortho- 
dox; Professor  Meacham,  resolute,  racy,  aspiring, 
capable,  —  a  natural  orator,  whose  versatility  of  tal- 
ents gave  him  a  prominent  place  both  in  the  pulpit 
and  in  the  halls  of  Congress;  Professor  Robbins, 
accomplished,  accurate,  conscientious,  industrious; 
Professor  Parker,  practical,  candid,  patient,  persist- 
ent; Professor  Eaton,  intelligent,  urbane,  diligent, 
genial,  genuine.     They  made  a  good  Faculty. 

Middlebury  has  always  been  a  progressive  college, 
and  never  made  so  rapid  expansion  of  its  appliances, 
methods,  and  agencies  for  the  most  recent  and  up- 
to-date  instruction  as  within  the  last  one  or  two 
decades.  It  is  doubtless  doing  better  work,  in  many 
directions,  now  than  ever  before.  But  it  has  always 
been  an  enterprising  college.  The  Philological 
Society,  founded  by  Professor  Patton,  produced 
Conant,  Smith,  Post,  Owen,  Robbins,  and  others, — 
a  remarkable  list  of  linguists.  Professor  Conant 
says  that  Middlebury  was  the  first  American  college 


74  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

to  introduce  German  into  its  curriculum,  Harvard 
following  a  year  later. 

These  surrounding  mountains  and  all  this  Ver- 
mont and  Middlebury  scenery  were  our  teachers. 
They  lifted  up  our  thoughts  to  God.  They  ren- 
dered literature  more  real  and  science  more  sig- 
nificant. The  beautiful  environment  in  which  we 
were  educated  wrought  itself  into  our  souls,  and 
its  influence  shall,  with  them,  endure  forever. 
President  Edwards  says  that  soon  after  his  con- 
version, watching  the  tremendous  thunderstorms 
that  rolled  along  the  Connecticut  valley,  with  pour- 
ing floods  of  rain  and  bhnding  sheets  of  lightning, 
he  found  them  "  exceedingly  entertaining,"  as  exhi- 
bitions of  God's  power  and  glory.  What  student  of 
Middlebury,  as  he  sat  on  the  window-sill  of  his  room 
in  Painter  Hall  or  in  Starr  Hall,  and  saw  the  vast 
masses  of  summer  clouds  fold  themselves  in  and 
out  among  the  peaks  of  the  Adirondacks  or  the 
Green  Mountains,  has  not  richly  shared  that 
entertainment.?  Though  not  born  poets,  the 
environment  compelled  us  to  write,  up  there  in 
Old  Painter  Hall,  fifty  years  ago,  or,  rather,  wrote 
for  us :  — 

*^  The  teachings  of  these  scenes  shall  live  forever, 
Engraven  on  the  tablets  of  the  soul. 
Time  hath  no  power  their  influence  to  sever 
From  memory.     Its  wheels  shall  cease  to  roll, 
And  heaven  be  wrapt  together  as  a  scroll  j 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  75 

The  unsubstantial  earth  shall  fade  away, 

Melting  like  mist  from  utmost  pole  to  pole ; 
But  Nature,  in  the  soul,  shall  live,  a  ray 
From  the  unclouded  Sun  of  Everlasting  Day." 

Some  of  us  remember  with  perfect  distinctness 
the  semicentennial,  the  jubilee  of  1850.  It  is  a 
wide  stream  to  be  spanned  by  a  single  arch.  We 
heard  President  Labaree's  admirable  address  of  wel- 
come. We  heard  Doctor  Bates,  in  this  very  place, 
take  leave  of  mountains,  river,  and  college  scenes. 
We  heard  Professor  Hough's  elegant  and  discrimi- 
nating delineations  of  the  lives  and  characters  of 
deceased  alumni.  We  witnessed  the  felicitous  dis- 
charge, by  Congressman  Alexander  W.  Buel,  of  the 
duty  of  presiding  officer  at  the  jubilee  banquet.  We 
heard  the  addresses  of  many  distinguished  alumni. 
We  can  still  recall  the  tones  of  James  D.  Butler,  as 
he  said  that  industry  was  not  necessarily  mdus/ry; 
and  the  inimitable  wit  of  Saxe's  •*'  Carmen  Lsetum," 
when  we  saw  an  old  valedictorian  double  himself 
up  like  a  jackknife,  as  afterward  General  Sherman 
used  to  do,  when  our  poet  compared  the  translation 
of  Enoch  by  faith  to  the  translation  of  Horace  by 
Professor  Hough.  Some  of  us  come  back,  after 
nearly  or  quite  half  a  century,  almost  as  to  a  final 
examination.  Though  college  classes  come  and  go 
as  waves  upon  the  sea,  the  time  at  length  arrives 
when  all  must  be  at  rest.  Every  tent  must  at  last 
be  folded.     We  had  hoped  that  Roberts  and  Phelps 


76  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

and  Sawyer,  and  others  who  have  but  recently  fallen 
asleep,  would  have  seen  with  us  this  Centennial ;  but 
they  are  gone.  So  it  has  been  and  so  it  will  always 
be ;  and  it  is  well. 

It  was  pleasant  at  the  jubilee,  fifty  years  ago,  to 
hear  Beman  and  Olin  and  other  strong  men  express 
their  deep  love  for  this  College.  How  often  did 
Truman  M.  Post  and  Mark  Skinner  give  utterance 
to  their  strong  affection  for  Vermont.  Professor 
Post  continued  to  speak  affectionately  of  the  College 
for  more  than  fifty  years  of  absence  and  return,  and 
to  the  last.  His  son  relates  that  a  few  days  before 
he  died,  in  1886,  he  rose  from  his  sickbed,  had  him- 
self dressed,  and  walked  across  the  hall  to  a  window, 
where  he  imagined  he  was  looking  upon  the  waters 
of  Lake  Champlain  and  toward  the  Adirondacks. 
He  stood  at  the  window  for  some  time,  and  tried  to 
discover  the  lake  and  the  hill  country  beyond,  but 
at  length  gave  up  the  attempt,  saying  it  was  too  dark 
to  see  the  peaks  on  the  other  side.  The  wealth  and 
the  glory  of  the  College  is  in  the  love  of  such  children. 

We  have,  however,  no  place  for  sad  thoughts  as 
we  look  forward  to  the  future,  either  for  individuals 
or  for  the  College,  but  rather  we  have  solid  grounds 
for  hope,  assurance,  satisfaction.  Men  die,  and  for 
Christians  to  die  is  gain  ;  but  institutions  live,  and 
so  far  as  they  are  identified  with  the  Kingdom 
of  Christ  they  will  become  larger  and  stronger. 
America  will  yet  have  hundreds  of  millions  of  in- 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS  ^^ 

habitants,  with  corresponding  growth  in  every 
direction.  Vermont  and  Middlebury  will  share 
in  that  growth.  William  H.  Lord  used  to  say  that 
Vermont  will  yet  be  considered  the  most  beautiful 
State  in  the  Union.  We  believe  that  the  number 
of  graduates  of  Middlebury  College  in  the  next 
century,  notwithstanding  the  competition  of  other 
institutions,  will  be  double  that  of  the  past  cen- 
tury, and  that  the  appliances  of  education  will  be 
increased  in  yet  larger  proportion.  It  will  work 
in  a  better  century  and  a  better  world.  Intem- 
perance, Sabbath-breaking,  and  other  vices  will, 
we  believe,  be  gradually  diminished  in  this  land 
and  in  the  world.  As  the  sun  melted  away  the 
glaciers  of  the  drift  period,  and  clothed  the  earth 
in  its  present  verdure  and  beauty,  so  will  Chris- 
tianity, by  the  constant  pressure  of  its  holy  forces, 
melt  away  the  obstacles  to  the  prevalence  of  the 
promised  righteousness.  And  with  the  prevalence 
of  righteousness  the  earth  will  be  filled  with  an 
unimagined  affluence  of  all  kinds  of  good,  material 
and  spiritual.  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  the 
advantages  to  be  developed  under  the  more  full  and 
intense  operation  of  the  forces  of  Christianity. 

We  gather  here  on  this  centennial  week,  as 
ships  meet  in  mid-ocean,  to  salute  one  another 
again  for  a  moment ;  to  wish  one  another,  for  the 
remaining  way,  a  prosperous  voyage  and  a  safe 
arrival  at'  a  happy  final  port.     The  American  poet 


7S  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

who  IS  perhaps  most  widely  read  in  Europe,  and 
whose  bust  adorns  Westminster  Abbey,  felici- 
tously commemorated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his 
graduation  at  Bowdoin  College,  by  the  exquisite 
poem,  *'  Morituri  Salutamus."  But  all  believers  in 
Christ  are  about  to  live  rather  than  to  die,  while 
the  church  on  earth,  though  its  members  die,  is 
about  to  conquer.  It  is  a  suggestive  fact  that 
the  same  Latin  future  participle  victuri,  from  both 
vivo  and  vinco,  covers  both  life  and  conquest.  The 
church  is  perhaps  double  what  it  was  in  1800;  it 
may  be  far  more  than  doubled  within  the  next  cen- 
tury. It  is  not  for  us  to  know  the  times  and  the 
seasons,  but  we  have  ample  reason  to  anticipate 
the  accelerated  triumph  of  Christianity.  The  very 
nature  of  the  system,  the  agencies  employed,  the 
obvious  import  of  prophecy,  the  manifest  tokens 
of  Providence,  so  greatly  enlarging  the  sway  of 
Christianity  in  our  own  times,  seem  to  indicate,  if 
not  to  demonstrate,  its  sure  and  hastening  triumph. 
We  congratulate,  therefore,  the  religious  societies 
of  Middlebury  College,  whom  we  have  been  invited 
especially  to  address  on  this  occasion,  and  all  who 
shall  hereafter  be  associated  with  them,  on  the 
"  high,  exciting,  and  gratifying  prospects  "  before 
them.  It  was  a  classic  proverb,  "  To  die  for  one's 
country  is  sweet."  In  a  higher  sense,  to  live,  labor, 
and  die  for  Christ  and  for  the  church  is  sweet. 
The  motto  of  the  first,  oldest,  and  largest  of  Amer- 


ANNIVERSARY   ADDRESS  79 

lean  colleges  is  *'  Christo  et  Ecclesiae."  Christian 
colleges  are  the  vanguard  of  the  hosts  of  Christ 
as  He  rides  prosperously,  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer. We,  especially,  the  older  graduates  of  Mid- 
dlebury  College,  for  whom  the  day  is  far  spent  and 
the  night  at  hand,  —  who  have  borne  to  some  ex- 
tent the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day  and  who  come, 
we  hope,  with  some  sheaves,  —  salute  you  and  bid 
you  welcome  to  the  immeasurable  privileges  of  the 
Christian  life  and  the  future  harvest  field.  Before 
you  is  a  work,  in  and  for  Christ,  by  the  Spirit,  and 
unto  the  Father,  of  which  no  human  being  is  in 
himself  worthy,  and  which  angels  may  well  covet. 
It  often  seems  questionable  whether  the  condition 
of  saints  in  the  millennium,  when  the  world  shall 
have  been  converted,  or  of  saints  in  heaven,  where 
there  are  no  souls  to  be  won,  can  be  of  equal  bless- 
edness with  that  of  those  who  now  and  here  en- 
treat and  beseech  and  persuade  men  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  God.  We,  alumni  of  Middlebury  College, 
who  have  been  permitted  to  participate  in  that  work, 
are  witnesses  for  God  to  these  religious  societies 
of  the  College,  to  all  that  are  here,  to  the  century 
that  IS  before  us,  and  to  all  the  centuries  that  shall 
follow,  that  notwithstanding  the  high  hopes  w^hich 
were  held  out  before  us  when  we  were  here  in 
youth  as  students,  the  half  was  not  told  us  of  the 
ineffable  privilege  of  the  Christian  life  and  work. 
Not  one  good  thing  which  the  Lord  had  promised 


8o  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

has  failed.  We  ask  no  higher  privilege  for  what 
remains  to  us  of  life  on  earth  than  to  continue  in 
this  service ;  and  we  can  conceive  of  nothing  higher 
in  heaven  than  to  be  admitted  to  the  more  imme- 
diate presence  and  enjoyment  of  the  same  triune 
God,  who  has  been,  through  life,  in  all  its  service, 
our  shield  and  our  exceeding  great  reward.  Many 
of  us  have  been  tried  as  in  the  fire,  but  never  has 
one  like  the  Son  of  God  been  so  near  to  us  as  in 
the  furnace.  Here  we  reaffirm  that  we  know 
whom  we  have  believed,  and  we  are  as  sure  of  the 
great  realities  of  religion  —  revelation,  inspiration, 
atonement,  grace,  God,  Christ,  sin,  responsibility, 
regeneration,  sanctification,  the  future  life,  with 
its  awards  of  good  and  evil,  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  and,  above  all,  that  God  is  love  —  as  we 
are  of  our  own  existence.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
interpretation  of  both  nature  and  revelation  man 
is  limited  and  liable  to  error,  alike  in  his  science 
and  in  his  theology;  but  the  sun  is  always  behind 
the  transient  cloud,  and  will  in  due  time  shine  forth. 
All  science  will  become  theistic,  and  all  theology 
scientific.  The  Holy  Spirit  will  lead  at  length  into 
all  truth,  both  in  nature  and  in  revelation.  To  this 
higher  and  holier  knowledge,  we  who  are  about  to 
die  in  the  body,  but  to  live  forevermore  in  the  soul, 
welcome  and  salute  you.  The  Church  Universal, 
also,  which  is  about  to  conquer,  and  to  live  forever, 
salutes  you.     Victuri  salutamus  ! 


DEDICATION  ADDRESS 

By  dean  BRAINERD  KELLOGG 

Fellow  Alumni  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

WE  are  here  to  commemorate  a  rich  gift  to 
the  College,  and  to  dedicate  to  its  great 
service  in  the  future  this  library  building 
into  which  the  gift  has  been  converted.  Tell  me,  I 
pray  you,  how  your  speaker  may  best  do  what  he 
has  been  asked,  and  has  promised,  to  do  in  this  com- 
memoration. Shall  it  be  in  part  by  lauding  the 
generosity  of  our  departed  friend,  to  whom,  though 
not  a  graduate,  this  commodious  structure,  beautiful 
in  design,  tasteful  in  its  appointments,  and  so  well 
suited  to  its  purpose,  is  due  ?  Shall  it  be  by  com- 
paring or  contrasting  it  with  buildings  of  its  kind 
elsewhere  ?  Shall  it  be  by  dwelling  upon  this  signif- 
icant.fact,  that  of  the  ten  regal  edifices  of  the  land, 
two  are  libraries — that  of  Columbia  College  and  the 
National  Library  at  Washington,  and  both  of  recent 
erection  ?  Shall  it  be  by  glorifying  the  wisdom  of 
our  esteemed  donor  and  that  of  all  such  donors,  of 
whom  the  most  flaming  example  of  the  day  is 
Andrew  Carnegie?  Shall  it  be  by  showing  that 
to  such  gifts  a  peculiar  honor  and  value  belong 
in  that  they  inspire  so  many  men  to  the  giving  of 
6  8i 


82  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

books  that  thus  the  building  may  be  justified  and 
its  purpose  fulfilled? 

Shall  I,  must  I,  spend  my  hour  upon  these  and 
kindred  subjects  ?  I  do  not  wish  to  do  so,  and  I 
think  I  read  in  your  faces  that  I  need  not.  I  want 
to  speak  of  books  instead  of  the  buildings  that  house 
them;  books  in  which  are  deposited  and  impris- 
oned in  words  the  thoughts  of  the  living  and  of  the 
dead;  thoughts  loosely  related  on  the  page  and 
thoughts  traced  there  to  their  underlying  principles, 
and  built  up  into  stately  sciences,  into  vast  systems 
of  speculation  and  belief,  and  into  the  more  attrac- 
tive body  of  literature  itself.  Of  my  own  volition, 
then,  and  with  your  approval,  I  turn  to  my  topic, — 
Books,  their  Contents  and  their  Uses. 

Their  contents  are  thoughts,  created  by  detecting 
and  affirming  the  relations  that  exist  between  things 
and  hence  between  our  ideas  of  things;  relations 
between  things  in  the  world  without,  between  things 
in  the  world  within,  between  the  things  in  the  world 
without  and  the  things  in  the  world  within  ;  rela- 
tions existing  with  little  or  no  agency  of  ours.  To 
detect  these  relations  and  to  affirm  them  in  judg- 
ments is  to  think,  is  to  create  thought.  The  thinker, 
and  he  alone  among  men  —  but  the  term  includes 
us  all  —  is  a  creator,  and  that  in  the  high  sense  of 
the  word. 

Man  finds  fibrous  wool  growing,  and  somehow 
conceives  that  it  can  be  spun  and  woven,  and  that 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  83 

out  of  the  cloth  garments  can  be  made  to  protect 
and  adorn  his  person.  He  sees  ore  lying  all  around 
him,  and  there  flash  upon  him  successively,  in 
successive  ages  perhaps,  the  several  processes  by 
which  it  may  be  smelted  into  iron,  the  iron  wrought 
into  steel,  and  the  steel  converted  into  engines. 
Wood  and  stone  and  metal  abound,  and  in  some 
happy  moment  they  suggest  to  him  their  utilization 
to  meet  human  needs,  and  lo!  upon  some  convolu- 
tion of  his  brain  there  appears  his  plan  of  a  building. 
Thus  far  all  is  thought,  a  pure  creation;  and  he,  the 
thinker,  is  its  creator.  But.  when  he  goes  on  to 
change  the  wool  into  clothes,  the  ore  into  engines, 
and  the  stone  and  wood  and  metal  into  a  building 
he  is  not  creating;  he  is  only  transforming  matter 
into  an  outward  embodiment  of  his  inward  thought, 
which  alone  is  his'  real  creation.  In  all  these 
transformations,  matter,  material,  is  consumed. 
There  is,  in  illustration,  just  so  much  less  of 
wood  and  metal  and  stone  left  for  others  to  use 
as  the  builder  of  this  structure  took  for  his  own 
use. 

But  the  things  out  of  whose  relations  the  thinker 
creates  his  thoughts  are  not  even  touched  by  the 
operation.  They  remain  for  others  to  use  in  other 
ways,  for  others  to  use  in  the  same  way ;  for,  out  of 
the  same  relation  between  the  same  things,  thou- 
sands have  successively  created  the  same  thought, 
each  thinker  ignorant  that  he  was  not  its  original 


84  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

creator.  And,  if  wholly  ignorant  of  what  had  been 
done  before  him,  each  was  the  original  creator. 

My  friends,  it  would  not  be  irreverent  in  me  to 
suggest  that  the  matter  out  of  which  the  worlds  were 
wrought,  nay,  the  very  stuff,  whatever  it  be,  out  of 
which  our  minds  were  formed,  may  not  have  been 
created  by  the  Almighty,  but  that  it  was  and  is  co- 
eternal  with  him.  Perhaps,  who  shall  say  ?  perhaps 
he  only  fashioned  what  he  found ;  made  the  outer 
and  the  inner  world  out  of  substance  coexistent 
with  himself  from  the  beginning,  if  beginning  there 
was.  But  at  least  he  fashioned  it  all  after  those 
archetypal  thoughts  which  he  did  create,  and  so 
realized  his  thoughts  in  things.  Yet,  if  he  did 
not  create  this  primal  matter  out  of  nothing,  he 
differs  from  you  and  from  me  as  creator  only  in 
degree  and  not  in  kind.  As  his  works  are  not 
our  works,  so  his  thoughts  are  not  our  thoughts 
but  far  above  them ;  and  therein  he  is  the  supreme 
Creator.  But,  unless  he  made  the  original  some- 
thing out  of  nothing,  his  creations  are  not  more 
genuine  creations  than  are  ours. 

In  this  power  to  think,  to  create,  are  w^e  made  in 
the  image  and  likeness  of  God.  With  what  dignity, 
then,  I  had  almost  said  divinity,  does  this  power 
clothe  us !  What  nobility  belongs  to  our  thoughts, 
few  and  feeble  though  they  be !  What  sacredness 
attaches  to  books  that  contain  these  thoughts  I  And 
how  like  a  temple  should  we  regard  such  a  building 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  85 

as  this  devoted  to  their  preservation !  Well  might 
Milton,  in  his  indignant  outcry  against  the  censor- 
ship of  the  press  in  his  day,  exclaim :  "  As  good  al- 
most kill  a  man  as  kill  a  good  book ;  who  kills  a 
man  kills  a  reasonable  creature,  but  he  who  destroys 
a  good  book  kills  reason  itself." 

Our  one  inextinguishable  grief  respecting  libra- 
ries is,  that  they  do  not  date  back  to  the  beginning 
of  human  thought.  Men  did  not  write  as  soon  as 
they  began  to  think  and  to  talk.  The  characters 
we  call  letters  are  not  coeval  with  the  sounds  they 
represent.  The  air,  the  lungs,  and  the  organs  of 
the  mouth  and  the  throat  —  all  things  needful  for 
speech  —  were  at  hand  ;  but  visible  signs  for  audible 
sounds  and  the  instruments  and  materials  for  mak- 
ing these  had  to  be  prepared.  In  no  libraries,  then, 
have  we  any  record  of  what  our  primeval  ancestors 
thought  and  said  about  things  and  about  themselves. 
Between  us  and  so  many  aeons  of  our  race  there 
hangs  an  interceptive  and  impenetrable  veil.  Of 
all  on  the  other  side  we  are  ignorant,  save  when  a 
Schliemann  unearths  thence  a  buried  city,  or  an- 
other archaeologist  recovers  something  prehistoric 
but  of  human  workmanship.  Upon  everything  else 
we  may  speculate  and  speculate,  but  our  specula- 
tions are  founded,  not  upon  the  rock,  but  upon  the 
sand. 

Had  words  been  written  as  soon  as  spoken,  and 
had  this  writing,  preserved  in  libraries,  reached,  us, 


S6  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

perhaps  we  should  know  where  the  human  race 
started  and  when ;  whether  from  one  pair  or  from 
many  pairs;  and  whether  this  one  or  these  many 
by  special  fiat  or  from  creatures  infra-human. 
Darwin  then  need  never  have  vexed  his  brain  with 
the  Origin  of  Species,  nor  Drummond  his  with  the 
Ascent  of  Man.  Perhaps  we  should  know  whether 
the  old  homestead  of  our  Indo-European  family  was 
in  Europe  or  in  Asia ;  when  and  whither  the  suc- 
cessive migrations  from  it  set  forth ;  and  whether 
those  across  Europe  and  that  one  over  the  passes 
and  down  into  upper  Hindostan  encountered  and 
drove  before  them  races  already  there.  Perhaps 
we  should  no  longer  conjecture  concerning  the 
origin  of  language ;  what  the  first  words  were  and 
how  formed;  how  some  have  run  down  into  deriva- 
tive prefixes  and  suffixes,  and  others  into  grammat- 
ical inflections,  and  what  these  all  meant  and  mean. 
Perhaps  we  might  follow  the  other  steps  by  which 
man  emerged  from  brutehood  into  the  manhood 
in  which  we  find  him  when  history  gets  its  first 
snap-shot  at  him.  Then  had  our  knowledge  of  our 
kind  been  what  Macbeth  wished  to  be,  —  "Whole 
as  the  marble,  founded  as  the  rock,  as  broad  and 
general  as  the  casing  air." 

We  are  not  greatly  disturbed  that  error  has  crept 
into  books.  We  are  not  infallible ;  and  we  are  all 
glad  of  it,  because  infallibility  does  not  make  an 
agreeable  writer  or  a  pleasant  companion.   And  what 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  87 

a  loss  to  us,  if,  without  testing  it  to  see  if  it  be  true, 
we  had  to  swallow  everything  books  put  into  our  in- 
tellectual  mouths!  —  a  loss  not  of  enjoyment  alone 
but  of  profit  and  of  power  as  well !  For  nothing  is 
more  wholesome  and  disciplinary  than  scepticism ; 
and  once  there  was  no  nobler  word  in  the  language 
than  its  name,  since  it  meant  seeing,  looking  into 
things.  Error  in  books  is  harmless;  only  error  in 
our  premises,  our  reasoning,  our  conclusions,  our 
theories,  our  knowledge,  is  harmful.  There  it  is  as 
the  flaw  in  the  boiler  of  an  ocean  steamship,  as  an 
air-bubble  in  the  shaft.  Onl}^  we  may  comfort  our- 
selves with  the  thought  that  not  everything  called 
error  is  error.  Even  heresy  is  but  the  belief  of 
one  with  whom  we  do  not  agree;  and  the  heresy 
anathematized  in  one  age  is  so  often  the  creed  of 
the  next.  The  first  weapon  of  the  reader  against 
error  is  defensive,  doubt,  which,  like  a  breakwater, 
holds  everything  at  bay  and  as  long  as  we  wish; 
the  second  and  last  is  offensive,  thought  —  thought 
profound,  penetrative,  protracted,  and  exhaustive. 
The  best  books  are  those  that  stimulate  the  reader 
to  the  most  vigorous  questioning,  that  drive  the 
ploughshare  through  our  most  cherished  opinions 
and  beliefs  and  compel  rigorous  reexamination. 
Not  homeopathy  but  enantiopathy,  some  one  says, 
is  the  true  medicine  for  the  mind. 

But,  though  books  are  not  coeval   with  thought, 
they    are    of   incalculable     worth    to    us.      They 


8S  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

enable  investigators  in  every  field  to  begin  their 
labors  where  those  just  ahead  of  them  left  off. 
Libraries,  to  appropriate  Hamilton's  figure,  are 
the  fortresses  by  which  we  hold  the  territory  we 
have  conquered;  and  they  become  in  turn  the 
bases  for  new  conquests.  The  multiplication  of 
books  makes  the  progress  of  this  and  of  every 
century  to  stand  in  geometrical  ratio  to  that  of  its 
predecessor. 

And  to  those  of  us  who  are  not  investigators, 
books  are  beyond  all  price.  Knowledge  won  by 
observation  and  by  reflection  on  what  we  observe  — 
first-hand  knowledge  —  is  better  than  any  other  of 
course ;  but,  if  restricted  to  this,  what  intellectual 
starvelings  should  we  be!  We  should  get  this 
knowledge,  get  all  we  can  of  it;  but  let  us  re- 
member that  second-hand  knowledge,  knowledge 
gleaned  from  thoughtful  reading,  is  good;  good 
in  that  it  stimulates  to  the  other;  and  good,  inex- 
pressibly good,  in  itself.  Let  us  get  all  we  can  of 
this  too. 

Show  me  where  libraries  —  large  or  small,  college 
or  village  libraries  or,  as  in  my  childhood,  school- 
district  libraries  —  abound,  and  I  will  show  you  men 
keen  of  eye  and  ear  and  tongue  and  men  of  stalwart 
views.  They  may  follow  the  plough,  shove  the 
plane,  shoe  your  horses;  but,  unlike  the  dyer's 
hand,  their  natures  are  not  subdued  to  what  they 
work  in  and  with. 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS 


89 


But  it  is  time  for  a  distinction.  There  are 
thoughts  and  thoughts,  a  lower  range  and  a  higher ; 
thoughts  systematized  into  sciences,  and  thoughts 
forming  the  staple  of  literature.  May  I,  without 
offending  any  here,  call  those  of  the  first  order 
facts  rather  than  thoughts  .^^  facts  disclosing  them- 
selves to  the  unaided  eye  and  to  the  eye  aided  by 
the  telescope  and  the  microscope;  facts  in  the 
worlds  above,  in  the  earth  beneath,  in  human  con- 
sciousness within ;  facts  easily  seen,  facts  tortured 
into  sight  by  crucial  experiments  in  our  laboratories, 
chemical,  physical,  biological,  and  even  psycholog- 
ical. Thoughts  proper,  the  thoughts  of  literature, 
are  these  same  facts  of  nature,  external  and  internal, 
along  with  their  suggestions,  added  to  or  taken 
from,  elaborated  and  applied,  carried  up  in  the  scale, 
tinged,  if  not  charged,  with  emotion,  appealing  not 
to  our  intellects  alone  but  to  our  whole  mental 
nature,  and  entering  themselves  into  our  intel- 
lectual, aesthetic,  ethical,  and  spiritual  lives.  Facts 
are  as  the  air;  thoughts,  as  the  air  flooded  with 
ether,  pervaded  with  light,  tingling  with  heat,  and 
tremulous  with  actinic  waves. 

Let  me  give  you  more  than  this  glimpse  of  the 
distinction.  Water  becomes  ice  at  32°  F.  Water 
cleanses  the  body  and  the  clothes  it  wears.  Water 
expands  and  rises  in  becoming  vapor;  and  vapor, 
cooling,  condenses  and  concentrates  and  falls  as 
rain  or  snow.     These  are  simple  scientific  facts,  as 


90  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

cold  and  bloodless  as  the  multiplication  table  or  the 
least  common  multiple.  But  now  when  actually  or 
by  implication  I  carry  these  facts  up  and  say  that 
the  king  of  Siam,  living  under  a  vertical  sun,  would 
not  believe  that  water  could  harden  so  that  one 
might  walk  or  skate  upon  it;  that  water,  cleansing 
material  things,  is  a  fit  element  for  use  in  baptism, 
which  symbolizes  purification  from  sin;  and  that 
the  water  of  earth  and  ocean,  stealing  upward  in 
invisible  vapor,  is  gathered  into  the  vast  storehouses 
of  the  clouds,  and  descends  as  rain  to  make  the 
meadows  green,  to  ripen  the  harvests,  and  to  refresh 
the  toiling  and  fainting  multitudes  of  men, — when 
I  do  this,  I  am  putting  life  and  blood  into  these 
cold  scientific  facts,  and  am  taking  them  up  to 
where  they  at  least  approximate,  if  they  do  not  be- 
come, the  thoughts  of  literature. 

So  much  for  the  distinction.  I  pause  for  a  mo- 
ment to  preface  what  is  to  follow.  Science  doubt- 
less will  have  a  public  celebration  like  this  when 
the  new  Science  Hall  rises  on  the  other  side  of  the 
campus  to  match  and  to  mate  the  Library  on  this ; 
and  another  speaker  stands  there,  as  I  do  here,  to 
dedicate  the  building.  Literature,  it  seems  then,  is 
to  have  its  innings  to-day.  I  have  taken  a  retainer 
for  it;  yet  I  am  not  a  lawyer,  and  I  have  no  mo- 
tive for  pressing  the  evidence  for  more  than  it  fully 
warrants.  But  I  should  be  a  traitor  to  my  deepest 
beliefs  and  to  my  chair  of  instruction,  once  here  but 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  9 1 

long  elsewhere,  and  should  be  false  to  this  occasion, 
did  I  not  proclaim,  as  from  the  housetop,  that  such 
buildings  as  this  are  meant  primarily  to  house  the 
books  of  literature,  in  whatever  language  written 
and  read.  Now  do  not  misunderstand  me,  please. 
Fill  all  the  stacks  of  the  library  you  need  with 
books  of  science — and  may  they  rain  down  upon 
you  in  daily  showers,  —  and  send  your  students 
here  constantly  to  consult  them.  But  —  I  speak  as 
a  fool  doubtless,  yet  Paul  once  said  he  did  and  that 
comforts  me,  I  speak  as  a  layman  at  any  rate  who 
wishes  he  knew  ten  thousand  times  as  much  of 
science  as  he  does  —  but,  I  repeat,  I  cannot  resist 
the  conviction  and  the  expression  of  it  here,  that,  in 
spite  of  its  age,  science  is  yet  infantile.  So  many 
sciences  by  fissiparous  generation,  by  gemmation 
and  segmentation,  are  dividing  and  subdividing 
with  a  rapidity  that  startles  one;  and  books  on 
these  divisions  and  subdivisions  are  issuing,  as 
bees  from  the  hive,  —  so  many  of  them,  as  their 
authors  themselves  concede,  out  of  date  before  they 
are  out  of  the  press! 

They  are  invigorating  reading,  I  grant  you ;  but 
the  misery  of  it  is,  that  what  in  them  is  certain  and 
what  is  problematical  is  itself  a  problem,  and  that 
so  much  must  be  taken,  if  taken  at  all,  only  ten- 
tatively. "  What,  Mr.  Gladstone,  is  the  position  of 
science  on  this  most  vital  question?"  "I  do  not 
know,  sir,"  was  the  instant  response,  "  I  have  not 


92  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

seen  the  morning  paper."  The  pathway  of  no  other 
kind  of  research  is  so  strewn  with  misfit  theories, 
exploded  systems,  and  abandoned  knowledge,  not  to 
mention  daring  postulates,  as  is  that"  of  science. 

But  even  when  beyond  all  question  vital  and  true, 
scientific  facts,  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  saying,  do  not 
compare  with  the  thoughts  of  literature  as  pabulum 
for  the  mind.  In  impatient  moods,  one  is  some- 
times tempted  to  say  that  in  nutritive  function 
science  is  to  literature  as  the  grass  upon  which  the 
ox  grazes  is  to  the  sirloin  into  which  he  converts 
it ;  and  it  takes  his  four  tough  stomachs  to  do  this ! 
Make  of  the  sciences  more,  if  possible,  than  you 
do  —  and  may  the  library  aid  you  vastly  in  the 
work,  —  but  remember  that  there  are  other  and 
weightier  matters  in  education.  Get  your  students, 
as  often  as  you  may,  out  of  the  narrow,  and  if  long 
pursued  the  narrowing,  grooves  of  chemistry,  elec- 
tricity, physics,  mathematics,  and  biology,  and  set 
their  feet  on  the  broad  highway  of  literature,  Eng- 
lish, Latin,  Greek,  German,  and  French.  I  speak 
that  I  do  know,  and  testify  that  I  have  so  often 
seen,  when  I  say  that  a  disproportionate,  nay,  a 
generous,  study  of  any  one  of  these  sciences  does 
not  make  the  best  kind  of  mind  ;  does  not  make  the 
best  kind  of  intellect  even,  for  to  the  other  depart- 
ments of  the  mind  it  brings  almost  no  sustenance  at 
all.  Intellects  so  nourished  lack  toughness  of  fiber 
and  strength  and  breadth  and  depth  and  acumen 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  93 

and  delicacy  and  the  culture  we  call  humanism.  It 
is  all  but  impossible  for  students  to  transmute  the 
scientific  facts  learned  into  intellect,  so  that  there 
shall  be  more  of  it  because  of  the  study,  and  it  shall 
be  able  to  think  more  profoundly  and  discriminat- 
ingly, and  with  keener  apprehension  of  the  relations 
of  fact  to  fact,  of  truth  to  truth,  and  of  the  unity  of 
all  truth.  This  must  be  got,  if  got  at  all,  from  the 
study  of  literature  and  kindred  studies,  I  believe. 
Make  without  encroachment,  I  repeat,  as  much  as 
possible  of  science,  remembering,  however,  that  it 
would  be  a  prostitution  of  the  College  as  a  college 
to  convert  it  into  a  school  out  of  which  students  at 
graduation  may  step  into  positions  where  they  can 
earn  a  living  as  chemists  or  electricians  or  biologists. 
The  business  of  the  college  proper,  of  a  proper 
college,  is  like  that  of  the  dam  at  Belden's  Falls, 
slowly  to  accumulate  a  power  which,  when  the  gate 
is  opened,  will  be  able  to  turn  any  machinery  on 
the  bank.  But  it  is  not  its  business  technically  to 
qualify  the  neophyte  alumnus  to  put  up  such 
machinery,  or  to  run  it  after  it  is  put  up  by  another. 
The  purely  scientific  school,  Hke  the  law  school 
in  its  field,  like  the  theological  seminary  in  its, — 
the  purely  scientific  school  is  to  supplement  the 
scientific  training  done  in  this  or  in  any  other 
college.  Now  I  most  potently  believe,  and  hence 
most  urgently  insist,  that  this  accumulation  of 
power  —  in  mill  phrase,  this  getting  a  head — is  to 


94  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

be  done  by  a  preponderating  study  of  literature 
itself. 

But  of  course  there  are  facts  to  be  learned  in  the 
study  of  literature,  English,  Latin,  Greek,  German, 
etc.  Most  of  these  it  is  the  business  of  the  prepara- 
tory school  to  teach ;  but  many,  I  know,  are  left  to 
the  college  professor.  He  may,  however,  do  too 
much,  far  too  much,  of  this  work,  especially  if, 
through  bias  or  through  his  limitations,  he  detains 
upon  it  students  who  are  ready  for  the  real  study  of 
literature.  It  must  be,  I  suppose,  that  such  offences 
come ;  they  do  come  at  any  rate.  I  know  a  pro- 
fessor in  one  of  the  great  universities  of  the  land, 
imported  from  a  distant  state,  and  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  English  department,  whose  whole  work 
with  the  undergraduates  is  the  tithing  of  this  mint, 
anise,  and  cummin  of  the  text,  and  who  leaves  to 
his  subordinates  all  the  instruction  in  literature 
that  is  really  vital.  Such  offences  come ;  but  is  it 
not  written,  "  Woe  unto  him  by  whom  the  offence 
Cometh  "  ? 

Now  in  English  —  and  here  I  hope  I  stand  on 
ground  less  slippery — the  way  has  largely  been 
cleared  of  these  bald  facts  for  the  college  student 
before  matriculation.  The  reading  of  good  books 
at  home,  attrition  with  cultivated  people,  English 
grammar  rightly  taught,  and  the  required  read- 
ing done  in  school  have  accomplished  a  good  deal ; 
and   logic    and    rhetoric   after   matriculation   have 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS 


95 


powerfully  aided  in  the  work.  Presuming,  then, 
that  in  these  and  other  preliminary  studies  the 
student  has  learned  what  to  look  for  in  the  crit- 
ical study  of  authors  and  how  to  estimate  his  find- 
ings ;  presuming,  too,  that  he  is  not  browsing  at 
will  but  is  judiciously  guided,  and  that  he  does  the 
work  himself  and  hasn't  it  done  for  him  by  text- 
book or  teacher,  —  presuming,  I  say,  upon  all  these 
things,  what  ought  the  student  to  show  at  grad- 
uation for  his  work  in  English  ?  What  sheaves 
should  he  have  brought  home  from  his  long  years 
of  gleaning? 

He  should  be  able,  I  think,  to  tell  whether  the 
thought  he  encounters  on  the  page  is  true  or  not, 
and  whether  valuable  if  true ;  whether  original  or 
trite ;  germane  to  the  sub-topic  of  the  paragraph  or 
alien  to  it ;  upon  what,  in  Locke's  phrase,  the 
thought  is  bottomed,  and  whether  well  or  ill-neigh- 
bored by  the  context;  what  inferences  flow  from  it; 
and  whether  its  author  dominates  it  or  is  dominated 
by  it. 

He  should  know  what  kind  of  sentence  the  au- 
thor affects,  —  simple,  compound,  complex,  climac- 
teric, balanced,  periodic,  or  loose,  —  or  whether  he 
mingles  all  these  gracefully  on  the  page ;  whether 
or  not  he  is  felicitous  in  the  choice  and  marshaling 
of  his  words,  in  the  use  of  imagery  that  turns  a 
search-light  upon  the  thought,  and  in  a  variety  of 
phrasing  that  keeps  the  reader  ever  fresh  and  alert ; 


96  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

in  a  word,  whether  he  is  master  or  not  of  a  style  al- 
ways adapted  to  his  thought  and  level  to  his  purpose. 
He  should  be  able  to  read  in  and  between  the  lines 
the  author's  attainments,  limitations,  biases,  tastes, 
disposition,  temperament,  traits  of  character — the 
man  himself.  He  should  know  the  peculiarities,  the 
differentia,  of  the  great  authors  at  least,  and  be  keen 
in  detecting  the  taste  of  each  and  in  giving  the 
parentage  of  quotations  and  of  passages  gone  astray. 
He  should  have  made  his  own,  large  measures  of 
the  thought  he  has  studied,  and  be  able  to  enrich 
his  discourse  by  levying  tribute  at  will  upon  what 
he  has  read. 

But  this  is  not  all.  To  stop  short  with  mere  pos- 
sessions, even  such  as  I  have  named,  would  be  to 
bring  the  tree  to  full  leafage  and  blossom,  but  not 
to  fruitage.  His  acquisitions,  while  remaining  ac- 
quisitions, should  at  the  same  time,  paradoxical  as 
it  may  seem,  have  been  transmuted  into  ability  to 
do  and  into  actual  doing  what  he  has  learned  that 
it  is  good  to  do;  and  the  charming  Portia  is 
authority  for  saying  that  the  one  task  is  not  always 
as  easy  as  the  other.  At  graduation  he  should  be, 
in  a  generous  sense  of  the  word,  a  vigorous  and  dis- 
criminating thinker ;  and  he  should  be  able  to 
express  his  thoughts  forcibly  if  need  be  but  lumi- 
nously and  appropriately  always  and  with  an  afflu- 
ence of  vocabulary,  a  fulness  of  diction,  that  forever 
forestalls  his  riding  a  few  pet,  spent,  and  spavined 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  97 

verbal  steeds  to  death,  when  relays  of  fresh  steeds, 
saddled  and  bridled  and  impatient  for  service,  await 
him  all  along  the  line,  if  only  in  his  wide  excur- 
sions among  authors  he  has  corralled  and  lassoed 
these  and  tamed  them  to  his  bidding. 

But  pardon  me,  my  friends,  pardon  me  !  Murder 
will  out,  and  so  will  the  pedagogue !  What  I  have 
left  myself  to  say  shall  be  for  all  and  not  for  the 
undergraduate  and  the  teacher  only. 

That  man  is  made  for  work,  and  not  that  work  is 
made  for  man  ;  that  business  is  lord  and  he  the  vas- 
sal ;  that  we  are  not  ourselves  ends  but  only  means 
to  ends  —  a  livelihood,  a  fortune,  position,  —  this 
is  not  the  gospel  preached  nowadays,  but  is  it  not 
the  gospel  practiced.'^  And  so  we  light  our  little 
candle  at  both  ends,  and  presently  burn  out  in  ner- 
vous exhaustion ;  or,  later,  drop  suddenly  dead  of 
heart  failure.  Vocations,  vocations,  on  every  side  ! 
But  what  and  where  are  the  avocations  ?  Physical 
relaxations  abound — walking,  the  wheel,  tennis, 
golf,  etc.,  —  but  what  intellectual  and  aesthetic  rec- 
reations have  we,  aside  from  the  diversions  of  home 
life,  life  in  the  church,  and  life  in  the  club.'*  I  know 
of  but  one  worthy  of  the  name,  open  and  accessible 
to  all,  and  that  is  —  reading. 

What  rest  and  recuperation  and  rejuvenescence 

in  a  good  book !     What   perennial  delight  to  the 

reader  in  the  thoughts,  fresh  and  subtile,  serious  or 

playful,  massive   or   elusive,   seen    through    words 

7 


98  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

transparent  as  crystal  and  as  inevitable  as  fate, 
through  phrases  felicitous  in  combination,  and 
imagery  exquisite  in  function  and  teeming  with 
suggestion  —  all  the  utilities  and  all  the  graces  of 
style  lavished,  if  need  be,  upon  the  thought  that  it 
may  have  apt  incarnation,  that  there  may  be  "fit 
body  to  fit  head"!  How  it  charms  the  reader  to 
see  that  not  alone  do  sheer  weight  and  strength  of 
thought  avail,  but  care  in  wording  and  in  placing  it 
as  well ;  that  not  always  does  the  burly  Roderick 
Dhu  prevail,  but  ofttimes  the  lighter  yet  more 
dexterous  Fitz  James! 

Oh  !  the  luxury  of  a  good  book  with  its  "  apples 
of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver,"  hanging  these  pictures 
all  over  the  walls  of  memory,  and  they  streaming 
their  gracious  influences  down  upon  us  in  our  dark 
hours  and  in  all  our  hours  to  gladden  and  inspire ! 
For  a  Troyon  or  a  Church  or  a  Corot  you  spend 
your  thousands,  if  able,  and  you  do  well ;  but  for  an 
equal  sum  you  may  gather  together  a  modest  library, 
on  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  whose  pages  are 
verbal  pictures  in  prose  and  in  verse,  any  one  of 
which  may  yield  you  a  keener  and  more  lasting 
enjoyment  than  does  the  great  masterpiece  on  the 
wall. 

Oh !  the  luxury  of  a  good  book  suited  to  some 
one  of  our  ever-varying  moods  and  needs!  It  comes 
at  our  call,  tarries  as  long  as  we  wish,  and  goes 
back  to  the  shelf  at  our  bidding.     If,  as  Plato  com- 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  99 

plains,  the  author  keeps  silence  when  we  would  fain 
catechise  him  respecting  something  he  has  said,  so 
too  he  never  opens  his  mouth  to  bicker  with  us  and 
to  insist.  He  takes  no  offence,  if,  weary  of  his  pres- 
ence, we  turn  our  backs  upon  him,  but  waits  calm 
and  serene  till  we  summon  him  again,  well  know- 
ing that  we  shall.  We  bitterly  regret  that  we  have 
not  been  face  to  face  with  some  of  the  great  ones  of 
our  time ;  but  here  in  these  volumes  are  the  great 
ones  of  all  time,  and  at  their  best  estate,  mutely 
pleading  with  us  for  an  introduction,  eager  for  an 
intimate  acquaintanceship ;  for  what,  as  Martineau 
asks,  is  literature  "but  the  appeal  of  thought  to 
thought  through  silent  ages;  an  appeal  that  is 
forever  forming  new  friendships,  quickening  young 
genius,  and  drawing  forth  fresh  tears  ?  " 

You  go  to  your  merchant,  and  you  pay  at  least 
its  full  value  for  what  you  buy  of  him,  all  it  cost 
the  men  and  the  women  that  had  anything  to  do  in 
its  production  and  its  handling.  But  behold!  I 
show  you  a  marvel,  a  mystery,  a  miracle.  You 
move  in  your  social  circles,  and  you  shed,  each  of 
you,  a  single  influence,  the  same  wholesome  influ- 
ence, upon  your  hundreds  of  friends ;  but  in  ex- 
change there  streams  in  upon  you  an  ennobling 
influence  from  every  individual  of  the  hundreds. 
One  influence  exerted  by  each  of  you,  hundreds 
received !  For  the  hire  of  a  day's  labor  in  harvest 
time,  you  purchase  the  Plays  of  Shakespeare,  the 


lOO  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

work  of  a  score  of  years,  bartering  your  ten  hours 
of  manual  toil  for  the  mental  toil  of  a  lifetime,  — 
the  lifetime,  too,  of  the  greatest  of  the  immortals  I 
What  Rothschilds  should  we  all  suddenly  become 
could  we  buy  the  material  things  we  need  on  such 
terms  !  We  could  not  derive  such  advantage  from 
things  immaterial,  were  it  not  that  we  live  in  so- 
ciety, where  each  may  move  at  the  same  time  upon 
many ;  were  it  not  that  thought  and  feeling  can  be 
put  into  words  and  this  wording  be  infinitely  mul- 
tiplied by  the  press ;  were  it  not,  above  all  else, 
that  thought  is  of  such  a  nature  and  is  so  con- 
nected with  its  verbal  expression  that,  though  any 
one  of  us  should  extract  from  an  essay  or  a  poem, 
and  appropriate  as  his  own,  all  the  thought  and 
the  passion  it  contains,  yet  there  would  be  as 
much  left  in  it  as  before  for  another  and  another, 
and  so  on  to  the  last  though  millions  should 
read  it.  Let  your  undergraduates  come  to  this 
building  and  feed,  we  will  say,  upon  the  thoughts 
of  "  Hamlet,"  and  from  the  same  copy  of  the  play ; 
yet  the  thought  and  the  emotion  and  the  inspira- 
tion in  it  will  not  in  a  thousand  years  have  been 
diminished  by  a  single  iota.  "  You  cannot  feed 
capons  so." 

All  the  principles  of  political  economy  are  set  at 
naught  when  we  deal  with  the  contents  of  books  and 
with  the  influence  of  mind  upon  mind  and  character 
upon  character.     It  was  this  fascinating  phase  of 


DEDICATION   ADDRESS  lOI 

the  subject  that  moved  me  at  last  to  accept  the 
invitation  of  the  committee,  that  I  might  stand 
here  to-day  to  present  and  to  press  it.  He  who, 
like  Egbert  Starr,  puts  of  his  substance  into  a 
library  or  who,  like  his  brother  Charles — Charles 
and  Egbert !  fratres  nobilissimi  et  generosissimi  — 
or  who,  like  his  brother  Charles,  by  endowing 
the  College,  keeps  the  living  professor  in  his 
chair  to  do  even  better  than  books  what  books 
do,  has  invested  in  something  that  will  not  de- 
cline in  quotation,  that  can  never  waste,  never 
lessen;  and  the  revenue  from  which  cannot  be 
computed  even  in  kind,  much  less  be  estimated 
in  gold  and  silver,  our  vulgar  equivalent  for  things 
material. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  had  hoped  that  Dr. 
Starr,  the  distinguished  son  of  our  generous  do- 
nor, would  be  here  to-day.  In  his  absence,  I  wish 
we  might  think  that  Egbert,  the  father,  had  not, 
in  learning  his  celestial  tongue,  forgotten  his  ter- 
restrial, and  that  he  would  be  willing  to  absent  him- 
self from  felicity  awhile,  and  mingle  with  us  to  see 
and  to  hear  what  we  are  doing  to  his  honor  to-day. 
For  in  some  way  I  want  him  to  know  that  not  to 
the  value  of  a  single  penny  of  his  great  gift  are  we 
Middlebury  alumni,  present  and  future,  we  Mid- 
dlebury  people,  present  and  future,  insensible ;  that 
we  have  done  with  his  gift  just  what  we  think  he 
would  have  counseled  us  to  do  had  he  been  with  us 


I02  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

all  along ;  and  that  now,  conscious  of  his  approval 
and  clothed  with  his  authority,  we  set  apart  and 
dedicate  to  its  mission  through  coming  ages  this 
his  building,  bearing  forever  over  its  portal  his 
honored  name. 


ADDRESS 

By  president  JEREMIAH  E.   RANKIN 

HOME  LIFE  AND  THE  COUNTRY  COLLEGE 

THE  country  college  is  an  institution  by  it- 
self; a  product  of  the  country.  If  a  few  of 
our  New  England  colleges  have  outgrown 
themselves,  have  become  metropolitan  as  the  nation 
has  grown  westward,  yet  the  original  product  is  still 
repeated,  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  It  is  the 
country  college  that  will  always  educate  the  average 
American.  It  is  an  institution  planted  by  feeble 
folk  in  the  open  fields,  with  God  and  Nature  as  its 
environment;  near  to  Nature's  heart,  near  to  Nature's 
voices ;  whose  strength  is  in  Nature's  God. 

I  well  remember  the  ejaculation  of  that  great 
theologian.  Professor  Edwards  A.  Park  of  Andover, 
when  for  the  first  time  looking  around  upon  this 
magnificent  circumvallation  where  our  Alma  Mater 
has  been  for  one  century  intrenched :  "  This  is  the 
place  for  a  college !  ^'  This  was  the  intuition  of  that 
brilliant  and  yet  reverent  nature,  so  lately  introduced 
to  another  environment  of  hills,  to  other  green,  to 

other  harvest  fields  which  are  eternal ;  aye,  to  a  seat 
103 


I04  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

at  the  feet  of  Him  whom  having  not  seen  he  loved, 
as  only  a  great  teacher  is  loved  by  his  pupils. 

The  highest  function  of  the  country  is  ethical ;  to 
raise  men,  not  beets  and  turnips ;  to  raise  men,  not 
even  plowmen  and  blacksmiths.  We  scarcely  leave 
the  echoes  of  the  dusty  town,  striking  out  upon 
roads  that  lead  through  earth's  streets  of  gold,  where 
the  bobolinks  are  busy  with  their  cataracts  of  song, 
before  we  feel  this.  We  see  that  the  ethical  school- 
master is  abroad.  We  look  up  to  the  hills  from 
whence  cometh  our  help.  There  are  heights  to  be 
scaled.  They  challenge  us,  they  inspire  us.  This 
is  the  way  youth  climbs,  in  order  to  hitch  his  chariot 
to  a  star.  At  the  foot  of  these  ladders  he  has  vis- 
ions of  ascending  and  descending  angels,  and  each 
day  awakes  to  say,  "  Surely,  the  Lord  was  in  this 
place,  and  I  knew  it  not." 

But  the  country  college  is  largely  peopled  by 
country  boys  and  girls.  They  nestle  here  as  the 
birds  nestle  in  the  tree  tops.  In  George  Eliot's 
Middlemarcky  that  cold-blooded  study  in  human 
pathology,  she  makes  the  miser  Featherstone  say : 
"  When  I  used  to  go  to  church,  there  is  one  thing  I 
made  out  pretty  clear, —  God  A'mighty  sticks  to  the 
land.  He  promises  land,  and  He  gives  land,  and  He 
makes  chaps  rich  with  corn  and  cattle ;  "  alluding  to 
the  nomadic  character  of  the  patriarchs,  — chaps  the 
most  likely  to  impress  his  nature.  And  so  when 
Satan  undertakes  the  overthrow  of  Job,  he  begins 


PRESIDENT  RANKIN'S  ADDRESS  1 05 

with  the  land,  with  Job's  sheep  and  oxen  and  cattle 
and  asses;  leaving  his  sons  and  daughters  to  the 
last. 

The  country  college  gathers  into  its  humble  walls 
the  country's  sacredest  and  best,  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  a  hundred  households.  In  them  is  simplicity 
as  to  moral  duty ;  no  splitting  of  hairs,  no  dodging 
of  issues ;  God  walking  in  the  garden  and  youth 
meeting  Him  there,  in  the  cool  of  the  morning. 
These  young  people  have  been  started  with  their 
faces  heavenward.  They  come  from  farms  where 
has  been  everywhere  written,  as  by  the  finger  of 
Him  who  stooped  and  wrote  on  the  ground,  in  the 
Gospel  narrative,  "The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his 
hire;"  "Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap."  They  come  from  unpretending  homes 
where,  as  the  morning  smoke  ascends  from  the 
chimney,  the  occupants,  man,  woman,  child,  eat 
their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  —  their  bread, 
for  they  earn  it ;  not  like  the  "  man  with  the  hoe^ " 
over  whose  spirit  has  descended  a  heritage  of  deso- 
lation, but  creatures  holding  communion  with  God 
in  all  of  Nature's  processes,  workers  together  with 
God  in  all  the  round  year. 

All  agricultural  life  is  ethical  Our  modern  insti- 
tutions have  agricultural  annexes.  Nature  is  God*s 
school  of  ethics  and  agriculture  in  one.  From  this 
ethical  environment,  our  young  people  spring  as 
reeds  by  the  watercourses.     Into  this  economy  the 


I06  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

God  of  Nature  comes,  His  reward  with  Him,  His 
work  before  Him,  putting  man  to  similar  direction 
and  stress  as  Nature  herself.  He  seeks  to  impart 
industrial  education  before  the  boy  leaves  the  place 
of  his  first  matriculation.  He  takes  Nature's  best 
from  a  heredity  rich  with  the  slow  growth  of  the 
spoils  of  industry,  to  a  high  destiny  as  morally  cer- 
tain as  that  insured  by  the  four  grand  movements 
of  Nature  which  we  call  seasons,  because  they  are 
so  kindly  related,  so  kindly:  "  First  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear. " 

The  fathers  were  wise.  They  made  the  college 
come  to  them  and  their  children,  into  the  country, 
so  that  the  boys,  and  now  the  girls,  might  retain 
the  wholesome  influence  of  home  life:  mother's 
benediction,  sister's  love;  so  that,  clothing  their 
sons  from  the  wool  off  the  sheep's  backs,  bringing 
their  provisions  of  a  week  from  the  home  pantry 
and  the  home  kneading-trough  and  the  home  oven, 
they  could  afford  to  educate  them,  while  they  spared 
them  from  the  farm.  Every  week  Jesse  sent  the 
boy  David  down  with  provisions,  to  see  how  the 
battle  of  life  went  on  with  the  other  sons.  Thus 
they  kept  home  ideals  always  before  the  absent 
ones,  and  always  remembered  them  as  belonging  to 
the  home  circle.  And  precisely  after  this  manner, 
in  Middlebury  College,  have  sprung  such  men  of 
genius  in  the  Christian  pulpit  as  Truman  M.  Post; 
such  senators  as  Silas  Wright ;  such  accomplished 


PRESIDENT  RANKIN'S  ADDRESS  107 

diplomats  as  Edward  J.  Phelps,  who  was  born  into 
our  alumnal  economy,  and  whose  oratory  was  des- 
tined to  help  us  in  this  glad  hour,  but  death's  angel 
came  and  sealed  his  lips;  such  groups  of  men  as 
have  made  so  many  Vermont  towns  glorious ;  such 
heroes  and  heroines  in  the  wilds  of  the  West ;  such 
pioneers  as,  having  heard  the  voice  of  our  Elder 
Brother  from  all  quarters  of  the  earth,  "  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture," have  laid  their  witnessing  dust  in  the  Orient ; 
men  and  women,  made  great,  first,  by  confronting 
God  in  Nature,  by  taking  tuition  from  the  God  of 
Nature  on  these  farms,  by  serving  an  apprenticeship 
in  these  Vermont  homes  to  Him  who  said,  "  As  my 
Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you."  Break- 
ing cattle  to  the  yoke  and  colts  to  the  harness, 
plowing  out  snow-furrows  in  the  winter,  and  earth- 
furrows  in  the  autumn  and  springtime,  getting 
sweetness  out  of  the  maples,  lifting  up  axes  against 
the  great  trees,  washing  and  baking  and  scrubbing 
in  the  home  kitchen,  taking  the  brunt  of  life  every- 
where ;  and  then  rising  to  the  dignity  and  reward 
of  the  work  before  them. 

Since  the  country  is  ethical,  and  since  agriculture 
is  ethical,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  country  college 
has  always  been  largely  a  nursing  mother  to  Chris- 
tian ministers  and  teachers.  This  is  why  the  first 
settlers  of  New  England  wanted  a  college  at  all. 
It  was  not  knowledge,  but  duty,  which  they  sought. 


I08  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

The  dust  of  John  Harvard  sleeps  in  a  humble 
cemetery  in  Charlestown.  I  have  sometimes  rever- 
ently stood  there.  The  Cambridge  undergraduate, 
with  Boston's  best  blood  in  his  veins,  owes  more 
than  one-half  of  the  first  endowment  of  Harvard 
University,  with  her  motto,  "To  Christ  and  his 
Church,"  to  that  Christian  minister.  The  first 
library  of  Yale  University  was  largely  made  up  of 
books  which  Congregational  ministers  brought 
from  their  own  study-shelves  as  a  donation  and  laid 
upon  that  altar  of  sacrifice. 

The  country  college  was  not  primarily  to  study 
science,  —  that  which  is  so  largely  the  legitimate 
charm  of  the  modern  college  curriculum.  Science, 
as  related  to  the  world's  material  progress  —  to  help 
this  on  and  make  money  out  of  it,  this  was  not  why 
our  fathers  planted  colleges.  Probably  we  think 
they  thought  too  little  of  such  things.  It  was  to 
study  God  as  man's  Creator,  and  man  as  God's 
creature.  When  our  first  missionaries  sailed  to 
foreign  lands,  as  to  material  resources  of  locomotion 
they  were  a  feeble  folk ;  scarcely  mightier  than  the 
original  disciples,  as  they  fished  the  sea  of  Tiberias. 
Dr.  Farnsworth  was  some  thirty  days  crossing  the 
ocean.  Now  God's  messengers,  those  ministers  of 
His  that  do  His  pleasure,  even  to  the  laying  down  of 
their  lives,  if  it  may  be  to  save  some,  are  conveyed  by 
vessels  that  combine  in  themselves  all  the  majestic 
forces  of  nature;  the  creation  and  management  of 


PRESIDENT  RANKIN'S  ADDRESS  IO9 

which  require  the  mastery  of  science  in  all  her 
majestic  steps.  It  is  by  nature's  great  forces  that 
the  soil  is  opened  to  the  sower,  that  the  seed  is 
sown,  that  the  earth  is  disemboweled  of  her  hid 
treasures.  Now,  when  the  inventor  looks  around, 
in  his  well-stocked  laboratory,  inquiring,  "Whom 
shall  I  send  ?  "  all  the  forces  of  nature  rise  up,  say- 
ing as  in  concert,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me !  "  The 
scientific  is  a  movement  under  God's  guidance  and 
sure  to  add  to  His  glory.  It  is  man  coming  to  find 
out  what  God  knows.  In  kindred  directions,  that 
man  of  olden  times  called  the  wisest  was  great  be- 
cause familiar  with  the  trees  and  plants  and  beasts 
and  fowls  and  creeping  things  of  the  earth ;  but 
who  yet  said,  "  To  fear  God  and  keep  His  com- 
mandments, is  the  whole  of  man." 

The  country  college  must  hold  fast  what  she  has, 
that  no  man  take  her  crown.  Her  work  is  especially 
ethical,  —  the  making  of  character;  the  fitting  of 
herself  into  that  holy  league  and  covenant  into 
which  the  fathers  entered  when  such  a  college  as 
this  was  founded,  and  dedicated  to  truth  and  virtue. 
To  dominate  material  forces,  whether  in  earth  or 
sea  or  air,  whether  in  Occident  or  Orient,  is  magnifi- 
cent ;  but  to  dominate  self,  the  godlike  in  us,  amid 
those  great  modern  novelties  and  possibilities,  to 
say,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ? "  to  go 
under  the  cloud  as  did  our  fathers ;  to  pass  through 
the  sea,  and  to  be  baptized  in  the  cloud  and  in  the 


no  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

sea ;  to  drink  of  that  Spiritual  Rock  which  followed 
them,  which  Rock  was  Christ,  —  is  better  than  to 
know  all  mystery  and  all  knowledge. 

The  recipe  which  John  Adams  gave  a  certain 
Virginian  for  making  a  New  England  of  Virginia 
was  this:  "Equal  parts  of  meeting-house,  school- 
house,  and  training- field."  Of  himself  he  said  that 
for  seventy-six  years  he  had  been  "a  churchgoing 
animal."  A  churchgoing  animal !  A  man,  made 
in  the  image  of  God,  one  day  in  seven  inquiring 
of  the  oracles  of  God!  This  man  must  still  head 
the  procession.  The  meeting-house  must  still  have 
something  definite  to  say,  —  the  schoolhouse,  the 
training-field.  New  England  has  but  to  repeat  her- 
self in  her  sons  and  daughters,  after  the  old  method, 
according  to  the  old  type.  Unless  we  lose  the  key 
to  their  language,  these  hills  will  never  lift  their 
fronts  and  men*s  hearts  to  the  skies  in  vain. 

Gentlemen,  Presidents  of  New  England  Colleges: 
At  the  request  of  my  Alma  Mater,  voiced  by  one 
who  in  his  youth  I  received  into  the  Church  of 
God,  and  upon  whom  the  trustees  of  Howard  Uni- 
versity have  just  authorized  me  to  confer  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  —  a  man  of  modesty  only 
equaled  by  his  scholarship  and  wisdom,  —  Presi- 
dent Ezra  Brainerd,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  it  is  my  pleasant 
duty,  having  thus  briefly  and  imperfectly  opened  this 
Conference,  to  welcome  you  to  its  deliberations. 


PRESIDENT   RANKIN'S  ADDRESS  III 

You,  President  Tucker,  come  from  the  banks 
of  the  Connecticut,  where  the  greatest  of  all 
American  statesmen,  Daniel  Webster  —  the  echo 
of  whose  pleading  voice  for  her  and  for  all 
American  colleges  still  lingers  —  was  educated; 
you,  President  Carter,  from  the  hills  of  Berkshire, 
where  Mark  Hopkins,  the  greatest  of  all  Ameri- 
can teachers,  once  studied  and  taught;  and  you, 
President  Buckham,  from  the  beautiful  heights 
above  Lake  Champlain,  with  their  memories  of  one 
alike  distinguished  in  Burlington,  at  Andover,  and 
in  New  York,  Professor  William  G.  T.  Shedd,  critic, 
preacher,  historian,  theologian,  teacher,  all  in  one, 
always  simple-minded,  always  great;  all  sons  of 
country  colleges,  and  all  illustrating  the  heights 
which  may  be  attained  by  all  country  boys,  —  one 
and  all,  as  well  as  those  from  other  and  later  insti- 
tutions, I  welcome  you. 

We  shall  gratefully  listen  to  your  words  of  wis- 
dom and  congratulation  as  we  sit  in  the  sunlight 
glory  of  the  old  century,  and  watch  for  the  encrim- 
soning  sunburst  of  the  new,  —  a  sunset  and  sunrise 
in  one. 


ADDRESS 

By  president  CHARLES  S.  MURKLAND 

THE  COLLEGE  AND  THE  INDUSTRIES 

IT  is  the  function  of  the  college  to  set  men  free ; 
to  remove  the  accidental  restrictions  which 
impede  the  free  exercise  of  our  native  powers 
and  arrest  or  distort  our  normal  development.  The 
freedom  thus  gained  is  as  many-sided  as  human 
nature,  and  the  task  of  securing  it  is  no  less  varied 
and  complex.  There  is,  for  example,  an  intellectual 
aspect  of  it,  in  view  of  the  bondage  of  ignorance. 
It  is  ethical  also,  and  social  and  political.  But  the 
phase  of  it  which  I  am  permitted  to  suggest  is  less 
obvious  than  these,  namely,  the  industrial;  that  is, 
the  freedom  of  efficiency  in  use.  Inefficiency  is  al- 
ways servile.  It  is  veritable  bondage,  the  denial  of 
a  right  which  should  be  inalienable,  the  right  to 
serve.  The  persistent  craving  which  we  all  feel, 
the  native  desire  for  a  share  in  the  world's  work,  and 
for  place  and  recognition  among  the  world's  workers, 
this  is  so  universal  and  so  insatiable  that  it  estab- 
lishes a  natural  right  not  subordinate  to  any  in  the 
familiar  triad,  "  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 


PRESIDENT  MURKLAND'S  ADDRESS  1 13 

piness."  Indeed,  the  idea  of  liberty  is  not  complete 
until  it  includes  the  conception  of  freedom  in  ser- 
vice. Any  emancipation  of  thought,  of  emotion,  of 
action,  is  in  danger  of  leading  to  a  new  and  more 
vicious  servitude  if  it  be  not  determined  and  guarded 
by  the  freedom  of  service.  Thought  is  never  free 
till  it  finds  its  freedom  in  its  use.  Then  first  it  is 
strong  and  unhampered.  And  this  freedom  of  ser- 
vice gives  point  to  the  college  work.  The  lack  of 
it  makes  that  work  perfunctory  and  vague,  —  as  it 
so  often  is.  I  doubt  if  there  is  any  educational 
need  more  pressing  than  that  of  reinstating  the 
freedom  of  service  as  the  one  educational  ideal. 

In  these  latter  days,  the  conception  of  service 
itself  has  gained  a  new  breadth  of  meaning.  Time 
was,  not  so  long  ago,  when  there  seemed  to  be  for 
the  scholar  no  freedom  of  use  save  in  the  three  so- 
called  "learned  professions."  These  vocations  are 
not  less  learned  now  than  they  were  a  half-century 
ago,  but  they  can  no  longer  claim  exclusive  right  to 
the  title,  save  by  priority  of  occupation.  Learning 
has  permeated  the  industries  and  glorified  them. 
It  has  made  them  what  Law,  Medicine,  and  the 
Ministry  had  so  long  been,  —  opportunities  for  such 
freedom  of  use  as  appeals  to  the  ambition  of  the 
scholar.  It  is  no  mere  accident,  perhaps,  that  when 
the  number  of  college  men  so  greatly  exceeds  the 
number  of  available  chances  in  the  older  professions, 
so  many   new  opportunities   elsewhere   should   be 


114  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

thrown  open.  At  any  rate,  such  is  the  fact.  For 
the  man  in  the  first  vigor  of  his  youth,  at  the  age 
when  one  leaves  college,  for  him  there  are  openings 
almost  numberless.  If  the  college  graduate  does 
not  find  them,  and  I  confess  that  there  is  some 
slight  prejudice  against  him,  it  is  partly  for  lack  of 
satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  college  to  the  indus- 
tries. For  these  latter  have  appropriated  to  them- 
selves the  best  products  of  the  modern  civilization. 
Is  there  an  important  discovery  in  any  science.'^ 
Straightway  it  becomes  the  basis,  or  the  auxiliary, 
of  a  new  industry.  An  experimenter  in  Chemical 
Physics  puts  some  marble  and  coal  dust  into  a  re- 
tort, and  fuses  them  with  the  electric  arc.  The 
porous  stone  which  he  takes  out  he  throws  care- 
lessly into  a  pail  of  water,  and  observes  that  bubbles 
rise  to  the  surface.  A  few  days  afterward  somebody 
is  manufacturing  acetylene  lanterns  for  bicycles. 
Our  every-day  facilities,  telegraph,  telephone,  and 
the  rest,  are  so  many  illustrations  of  the  industrial 
appropriation  of  learning;  and  they  are  specific 
cases,  also,  of  the  new  varieties  of  freedom  offered 
to  the  scholar. 

The  fact  is  that  all  invention,  all  discovery,  all 
research,  have  this  in  common :  they  enlarge  the 
freedom  of  the  individual  in  the  industries  and  by 
means  of  the  industries.  We  were  limited  to  the 
pace  of  a  horse  or  the  run  and  reach  of  a  sailing 
vessel,  when  a  puff  of  expanding  vapor  suggested 


PRESIDENT   MURKLAND'S  ADDRESS  1 15 

the  way  of  a  broader  liberty.  Our  intercourse  was 
restricted  to  the  range  of  a  voice,  when  suddenly  we 
could  catch  the  ear  of  our  friend  a  thousand  miles 
away.  It  was  like  expanding  the  compass  of  a  prison 
cell.  And  every  increment  of  freedom  thus  gained 
for  men  has  been  at  the  same  time  the  opening  of 
opportunity  for  the  scholar's  free  service  in  the  in- 
dustries. The  tradesman  of  a  generation  ago,  the 
journeyman  who  learned  his  trade  by  an  apprentice- 
ship of  three  years,  or  five  or  seven,  is  not  extinct. 
He  may  still  find  employment.  But  the  industries 
demand  men  of  a  different  stamp ;  men  who  have 
attained  not  only  the  freedom  of  the  hand,  but  that 
of  the  mind;  not  only  facility  in  shaping  material, 
but  facility  in  ordering  forces.  And  facility  of  this 
sort  is  the  divinely  ordained  privilege  of  the  scholar. 
In  order  that  I  may  not  seem  to  do  less  than  full 
justice  to  the  college,  let  me  say  that  in  all  this  the 
college,  however  innocent  of  any  such  design,  has 
been  the  one  constant  factor.  It  has  given  to  re- 
search a  new  life;  it  has  been  foremost  in  hailing 
discovery  with  welcome  and  applause.  It  has  not 
been  partial  to  invention,  perhaps,  simply  because 
until  yesterday  invention  was  so  haphazard,  so  un- 
scholastic,  that  it  had  not  deserved  the  collegiate 
seal.  There  is  no  measuring  the  debt  the  industries 
owe  to  the  college.  But  this  very  effectiveness  of 
the  college  recoils  upon  it  with  a  new  definiteness 
of  demand.     The  college  must  do  more  because  it 


Il6  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

has  done  so  much.  Having  touched  life  with  learn- 
ing here  and  there,  it  must  continue  until  the  two 
are  coextensive.  Indeed  the  two  —  hfe  and  learn- 
ing—  are  growing  more  symmetrical  every  day. 
There  is  no  point  in  either  where  the  other  may 
not  touch.  Surely  every  lover  of  learning  will  say 
that  there  is  no  point  where  they  should  not  touch. 
In  getting  nearer  the  ultimate  association  of  the 
two,  we  are  both  enlarging  life  with  learning  and 
quickening  learning  with  life.  The  burden  of  it 
must  be  borne,  as  it  has  been  borne,  by  the  college. 
Never  w^as  a  time  when  the  college  was  so  abso- 
lutely necessary  as  it  is  to-day.  It  is  indispensable 
to  the  industries.  They  all  look  to  the  college  for 
their  development,  and  for  the  enlargement  of  free- 
dom in  their  domain.  And  they  will  not  look  in 
vain. 

Perhaps  even  this  rather  formal  relation  between 
learning  and  the  industries  is  enough  for  our  pur- 
pose. But  there  is  a  more  real  association  in  the 
reciprocal  influence  which  has  given  to  learning 
broader  scope,  and  to  industry  freer  range.  And  I 
speak  of  learning  in  all  its  inclusiveness,  literary  and 
scientific.  The  multiplication  and  development  of 
educational  facilities,  the  increasing  ratio  of  edu- 
cated men  and  women,  these  are  industrial  prod- 
ucts, —  I  had  almost  said  industrial  by-products. 
One  university  has  its  genesis  in  an  oil  well ;  an- 
other in  a  thread  mill ;  and  another  in  something 


•     PRESIDENT  MURKLAND'S  ADDRESS  117 

else  equally  matter-of-fact.  And  the  financial  re- 
sources of  students  are  the  incomes  from  the  farms, 
factories,  shops,  ships,  and  railroads.  The  industries 
foster  learning  and  send  it  abroad. 

But  learning  incurs  no  obligation  it  does  not  re- 
quite. It  puts  about  the  industries  a  purer,  sweeter 
atmosphere ;  and,  in  view  of  the  continuity  of  do- 
mestic life,  it  supplies  a  practicable  motive,  as  the 
father  toils  not  only  patiently  but  gladly  because 
the  fruits  of  his  toil  will  be  seen  in  the  learning  of 
his  son  and  daughter.  By  the  inspiration  of  learn- 
ing, the  father  apprehends  that  larger,  truer  man- 
hood, and  appraises  it  the  more  highly  because  of 
his  own  limitations.  To  separate  learning  and  the 
industries  would  be  fatal  to  both  of  them. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  still  somewhat  grudgingly  that 
the  college  comes  to  recognize  that  after  all  there 
are  industries,  and  industries  without  which  our 
common  freedom  would  be  curtailed.  It  is  not  yet 
easy  for  the  college  to  concede  that  the  freedom  of 
the  scholar  in  the  industries  should  assume  as  large 
proportions  in  the  college  outlook  as  that  of  the 
scholar  unemployed,  or  of  the  scholar  in  a  learned 
profession.  It  is  true,  but  not  important,  as  has 
been  said  from  this  platform,  that  "  industry  is  not 
necessarily  in-dust-ry."  It  is  also  true,  and  vital, 
that  a  liberal  and  learned  profession  may  be  liberal 
and  learned  in  nothing  but  profession.  The  college 
will  not  achieve  its  full  use  until  it  educates  men  for 


Il8  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

the  industries.  Educated  in  some  fashion  they  will 
be ;  and,  thus  equipped,  they  are  likely  to  demand 
the  readjustment  of  some  of  our  common  estimates. 
It  is  curious  how  provincial  some  of  these  estimates 
are.  We  do  not  easily  understand  the  regard  in 
which  the  British  mind  holds  the  shopkeeper.  But, 
then,  the  British  mind  does  not  easily  understand 
our  inability  to  get  at  what  Emerson  meant  when 
he  said  that  the  highest  genius  was  the  genius  of 
the  garden.  It  is  conceivable  that  a  man  may  be 
learned  and  a  shoemaker,  or  a  blacksmith,  or  a  lens- 
polisher,  because  such  cases  have  been.  But  it  is 
still  hard  to  conceive  of  one  getting  a  college 
education  and  then  becoming  a  shoemaker,  or  a 
lens-grinder,  or  even  a  tent-maker,  whatever  may 
have  been  true  of  the  Apostle  Paul  in  his  day 
and  of  Spinoza  in  his,  so  provincial  is  our  common 
feeling. 

It  seems  to  me,  after  some  observation,  that  the 
specialized  education  of  the  day,  in  which  the  de- 
mands of  the  industries  have  found  expression, 
excellent  as  that  education  is,  has  this  limitation : 
it  results  in  a  specialized  freedom,  and  it  is  always 
in  danger  of  forgetting  that  this  is  not  its  final  aim. 
It  produces  better  engineers,  of  one  kind  and  an- 
other; better  chemists,  better  manufacturers,  better 
farmers,  —  men  who,  by  virtue  of  this  education, 
have  wider  range  and  freer  play  within  the  limits 
of  their  specialties.     It  supplies  the  men  the  indus- 


PRESIDENT  MURKLAND^S  ADDRESS  II9 

tries  want,  and  at  the  same  time  gives  the  industries 
a  certain  intellectual  standing.  But  it  does  not 
confer  the  comprehensive  freedom  which  is  the 
scholar's  right ;  and  it  is  always  face  to  face  with 
the  temptation  of  financial  expediency,  as  if  the  sole 
aim  of  the  specialized  education  were  to  guarantee 
to  its  beneficiaries  an  increased  income. 

The  financial  moment,  of  course,  is  not  to  be 
disregarded  utterly.  There  is  no  estimating  how 
much  the  college  owes  to  it.  The  college  con- 
stituency would  not  increase  so  rapidly  if  the  col- 
lege education  did  not  pay  so  well.  The  college 
graduate  does  have  a  better  chance  at  the  prizes, 
even  when  the  prizes  are  estimated  at  their  value 
in  coin.  On  the  other  hand,  nothing  could  be 
more  fatal  to  the  freedom  of  the  scholar  than  the 
overemphasis  upon  a  fact  so  subsidiary.  The 
inducement  to  such  overemphasis  is  peculiarly 
great  as  it  appeals  to  the  specialized  education. 
And  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  resist  the  appeal  and 
turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  considerations  of  immediate 
profit.  Certainly  the  specialized  education  has 
difHculties  of  its  own. 

Nevertheless  it  is  gaining  a  vast  constituency. 
Men  are  aiming  at  the  industries  and  ignoring 
the  college.  I  speak,  of  course,  of  the  college 
which  is  not  at  the  same  time  a  technical  school. 
The  attempt  to  combine  the  two  bristles  with  diffi- 
culties, and  not  least  among  them  is  that  of  meet- 


I20  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

ing  the  extraordinary  demands  of  the  industries 
without  too  great  a  sacrifice.  Only  by  the  sheerest 
force  can  the  technical  training  itself  be  crowded 
into  the  space  of  four  years.  To  cover  the  ground 
demands  a  pace  which  cannot  be  kept  without  un- 
sparing use  of  whip  and  spur.  The  weak  drop 
out ;  it  is  sad,  but  it  cannot  be  helped.  The  ground 
must  be  covered,  at  whatever  cost.  There  is  little 
place  for  the  humanities,  —  none  at  all  unless  some- 
body fights  for  them.  And  all  the  while  there  is 
the  drag  of  inadequate  preparation  and  of  immatu- 
rity. Apart  from  the  financial  considerations,  the 
specialized  education,  as  applied  to  the  industries 
is  deficient  in  precisely  those  items  which  the  col- 
lege might  supply. 

I  take  it  that  the  very  stress  of  technical  education 
gives  it  much  of  its  attractive  force,  and  makes  the 
industries  themselves  seem  more  worthy  of  respect. 
It  is  not  the  financial  aspect  of  any  given  industry 
w^hich  repels,  or  fails  to  attract,  the  scholar.  It  is 
rather  that  in  the  associations,  in  the  conditions  to 
which  he  must  in  some  measure  submit,  he  fears 
that  he  will  find  no  scope  for  his  personal  freedom. 
The  handicraft  threatens  to  become  a  handicap. 
How  shall  the  college  man  be  made  to  see,  how 
shall  he  gain  culture  enough  to  see,  that  even  in  a 
commonplace  trade  he  may  be  less  restricted  in  the 
exercise  of  the  human  freedom,  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression, of  feeling  and  action,  than  he  would  be 


PRESIDENT  MURKLAND'S  ADDRESS  121 

in  a  calling  with  less  routine  and  greater  leisure  ? 
Here  is  a  point  at  which  the  college  may  come  into 
closer  relation  with  the  industries.  It  is  much  that 
the  curriculum  be  wisely  adjusted  in  view  of  scien- 
tific research,  social  conditions,  and  psychological 
requirements;  much  that  the  methods  of  teaching 
be  adequate ;  much  more  that  the  common  ethics  be 
made  to  stand  the  fierce  test  of  four  years'  irrespon- 
sible receptiveness.  But  the  supreme  thing  is  the 
fitness  to  develop  a  man,  or  a  woman,  clear-eyed 
enough  to  see  the  truth,  strong-hearted  enough  to 
cleave  to  it  and  trust  in  it ;  large-minded  enough 
to  understand  that  a  man  is  not  dignified  by  the 
material  in  which  he  works,  but  the  material  by  the 
man  and  his  works;  and  all  this  even  in  the  face  of 
a  common  sentiment.  For  the  common  sentiment 
still  refuses  to  recognize  the  industries  as  oppor- 
tunities for  the  freedom  of  the  college  graduate. 

One  thing  the  college  persistently  ignores,  — 
that  physical  activity  is  a  condition  of  freedom. 
And  physical  activity  is  at  its  best  in  the  stress  of 
work.  The  college  has  no  cognizance  of  such  ac- 
tivity, save  as  it  gives  a  quasi-recognition  to  college 
sports,  or  requires  certain  gymnastic  exercises.  In 
consequence,  it  is  urged  on  behalf  of  the  industries 
that  the  college  student  becomes  incapacitated  for 
the  application  of  his  bodily  powers  in  service ; 
that  in  his  devotion  to  thought,  and  to  thought 
expressed  in  words,  he  has  lost  or  failed  to  acquire 


122  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

the  faculty  of   expressing    thought   in  action    and 
embodying  it  in  other  than  verbal  material.     The 
complaint  is  not  wholly  without   reason,  but  it  is  . 
becoming  less  reasonable  every  day. 

There  are  other  materials  in  which  the  scholar 
may  embody  his  vision,  finding  his  freedom  in  the 
process.  But  I  suppose  the  conception  of  a  uni- 
verse plastic  and  malleable  to  his  touch  comes  to 
no  man  save  as  a  reflex  from  his  actual  manipula- 
tion. Moreover,  since  the  gates  of  Eden  were 
guarded  with  a  flaming  sword  there  has  been  a 
certain  necessity  of  bodily  work  as  a  condition  of 
perfect  sanity.  Physical  inertness  is  not  far  from 
decay.  And  four  years  of  it,  in  college,  may  be 
fatal.  So,  at  least,  reads  the  indictment  the  indus- 
tries bring  against  the  college ;  it  is  for  the  college 
to  answer. 

After  all,  it  is  mainly  an  individual  matter.  Wat- 
son, of  the  Plymouth  Nurseries,  the  intimate  friend 
of  Emerson,  the  welcome  correspondent  of  choice 
spirits  at  home  and  abroad,  the  most  distinguished 
member  of  a  college  class  that  included  such  men 
as  Samuel  Longfellow  and  Edward  Everett  Hale, 
is  the  typical  case.  His  industry  is  commonplace 
enough  among  commonplace  men.  But  he  made 
of  it  an  art,  and  found  in  it  the  full  freedom  to  which 
his  college  life  gave  him  the  introduction.  His 
case  is  not  unique,  but  the  class  is  not  a  large  one. 
One  can  easily  imagine  a  different  state  of  affairs, 


PRESIDENT  MURKLAND'S  ADDRESS  123 

—  one  in  which  the  first  scholars  in  every  college 
would  inevitably  gravitate  towards  the  association, 
say,  of  the  smiths,  because  only  the  first  scholars 
would  be  worthy  of  such  a  goodly  fellowship.  But 
we  have  first  to  imagine  the  transformation  of  the 
guild  of  the  smiths ;  yet  there  have  been  smiths  at 
whose  touch  the  hammer  yielded  a  graphic  power 
as  true  as  that  of  the  brush  or  the  pencil.  Such  men 
have  been  rare  in  any  calling,  but  it  is  not  wholly 
outside  the  province  of  the  college  to  make  them 
common. 

In  all  this  I  have  concerned  myself  more  with 
stating  the  conditions  than  with  offering  solutions. 
Solutions  of  such  problems  as  that  of  the  relation 
of  the  college  to  the  industries  do  not  come  ready 
made,  nor  before  their  time.  But  we  are  not  with- 
out indications  as  to  the  line  of  movement  towards 
a  better  adjustment.  The  college  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  industries  on  the  other,  are  moving,  if  not 
towards  a  common  ground,  at  least  towards  posi- 
tions within  measurable  reach  of  each  other.  On 
the  part  of  the  college  the  chief  indication  is  in  the 
development  of  the  curriculum.  I  must  not  tres- 
pass upon  this  ground  save  only  by  saying  that  in 
the  midst  of  great  uncertainty,  and  as  the  result  of 
various  experiments,  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to 
offer  the  student  a  variety  of  intensive  courses  from 
which  to  choose.  And  it  is  the  idea  of  intensive 
study  that  has  determined  this  tendency,  not  simply 


124  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

the  idea  of  variety.  This  means  greater  thorough- 
ness, and  an  added  maturity  of  thought ;  and  these 
are  direct  or  indirect  responses  to  the  demands  of 
the  industries.  Of  similar  import  is  the  fact  that 
the  two  courses  which  have  felt  only  the  change  of 
added  emphasis  are  the  courses  in  mathematics  and 
English  ;  and  these  are  the  tools  of  the  industries. 
The  dictum  of  the  famous  German  chemist,  that 
nine-tenths  of  chemistry  is  manipulation,  locates 
the  sciences  definitely  enough. 

From  the  other  side,  the  industries  will  not  be 
deprived  of  the  service  and  the  fellowship  of  the 
scholar.  The  hit-or-miss  inventor  is  discounte- 
nanced. Inventions  and  discoveries  may  still  be  the 
results  of  happy  accidents,  but  of  accidents  which 
happen  in  the  course  of  the  most  accurate  research. 
The  very  term  "  mechanic  "  has  risen  to  new  dig- 
nity of  meaning.  It  no  longer  signifies  a  man  whose 
hands  alone  are  free,  but  one  who  moves  freely  in 
the  whole  region  where  energy  is  available  for  use. 
The  name  has  become  a  badge  of  honor,  worthily 
w^orn  only  by  him  who  has  come  into  the  freedom 
of  efficiency  which  is  the  scholar's  birthright.  So 
far,  at  least,  the  movement  has  gone,  from  both 
sides,  toward  a  better  adjustment  between  the  col- 
lege and  the  industries. 

During  the  century  of  honor  we  celebrate,  Mid- 
dlebury  has  given  to  the  industries  relatively  few  of 
her  sons.     But  she  has,  by  her  very  conservatism 


PRESIDENT  MURKLAND'S  ADDRESS  1 25 

perhaps,  steadily  stood  for  the  freedom  of  the  scholar 
in  any  calling.  But  Middlebury  has  felt  the  pres- 
sure of  the  new  conditions.  Her  development  during 
the  twenty-odd  years  of  my  recollection  has  been 
greater,  I  suppose,  than  during  the  eighty  years  be- 
fore. She  cannot  hope  to  remain  even  in  the  pres- 
ent condition.  But  this  she  can  do  :  rejecting  every 
overture  from  a  base  industrialism,  welcoming  every 
opportunity  to  broaden  the  liberty  of  the  man 
in  the  industries,  she  can  send  forth  an  unfailing 
succession  of  men  and  women  prepared  to  do  with 
their  might  whatsoever  their  hands  find  to  do. 
This  College,  which  to-day  celebrates  its  majority, 
which  with  another  century  will  still  be  young  — 
may  it  never  grow  old  save  in  the  richness  of  hal- 
lowed memories  and  fond  traditions,  and  in  the 
sacredness  of  ties  binding  successive  generations 
together  in  a  sodality  of  interest  and  use.  But  with 
few  years  or  many,  this  College  will  always  be,  to  us 
who  have  been  of  its  fellowship,  the  source  of  per- 
sonal influences  persistent  and  uplifting,  the  nucleus 
of  experience  that  sweetens  all  of  life,  the  home  of 
freedom  and  of  truth,  the  same  "  dear  old  Midd." 


ADDRESS 

By  president   FRANKLIN   CARTER 
TEXT-BOOK  versus  LECTURE 

IT  has  been  impossible  to  note  the  rapid  growth 
of  our  New  England  colleges  without  raising 
the  question  whether  in  their  enlargement  and 
expansion  they  are  losing  features  of  value.  That 
they  are  gaining  in  certain  ways  much  more  than 
they  are  losing  is  the  general  belief.  Considering 
the  end  for  which  they  exist  to  be  partly  the  training 
of  the  intellect,  but  also  largely  the  establishment  of 
the  life  in  the  rules  and  habits  of  right  living,  he 
should  be  a  wise  man  who  would  pretend  accurately 
to  measure  the  comparative  value  of  the  influences 
for  the  undergraduate  now  and  the  undergraduate 
of  fifty  years  hence.  I  shall  not  undertake  a  com- 
parison involving  any  such  pretension.  I  wish  to 
make  certain  observations  in  regard  to  methods  of 
instruction. 

The  greatest  advance  in  the  modern  college  is  in 
the  laboratory  methods.  Whereas  science  was  for- 
merly taught  largely  by  lectures,  and  in  some  of  our 
colleges  by  a  very  brief  course,  and  the  students 
were  left  at  the  close  of  the  course  with  the  vaguest 
126 


PRESIDENT   CARTER'S  ADDRESS  1 27 

general  notions,  at  present  nearly  every  college  in- 
sists on  actual  work  in  the  laboratory.  Even  in 
those  colleges  where  half-year  or  year  courses  in 
certain  sciences  are  required  of  all  students,  the 
facts  and  principles  stated  by  the  professor  have  to 
be  corroborated  by  the  attainment  of  actual  results 
in  the  laboratory.  A  college  with  classes  of  less 
than  one  hundred  will  be  more  apt  to  insist  that 
some  knowledge  of  chemistry,  biology,  or  physics 
shall  be  secured  by  every  student  than  a  college 
where  the  classes  run  up  into  the  hundreds.  If  the 
statement  be  true  that  the  greatest  gain  in  instruc- 
tion has  been  made  in  the  introduction  of  laboratory 
work,  by  which  the  student  is  compelled  to  find  his 
own  way  to  certain  facts  and  laws,  and  arrives,  so 
to  speak,  by  his  own  movement  at  the  certainty  of 
relations,  we  may  ask  why  this  is  not  an  argument 
in  favor  of  requiring  some  knowledge  of  science, 
some  actual  mastery  of  the  laws  and  processes  of 
nature,  of  every  candidate  for  the  bachelor's  degree. 
Does  not  the  unrestricted  choice  in  studies  allow 
many  young  men  to  be  graduated  from  our  colleges 
without  any  knowledge  of  the  facts  and  laws  of 
matter  and  life,  and  without  any  acquaintance  with 
the  methods  by  which  scientific  facts  and  methods 
are  determined }  Is  it  not  desirable  that  every  edu- 
cated man  should  have  at  least  one  avenue  in  the 
world  of  nature  along  which  he  may  walk  with 
knowledge  of  the  objects  around  him,  and  with  an 


128  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

ever-increasing  knowledge  and  enjoyment?  The 
extension  and  application  of  laboratory  methods  to 
studies  relating  to  letters,  to  the  history  of  man's 
thought  and  experiments  in  society,  have  added 
value  to  the  pursuit  of  these  studies  in  the  colleges 
of  to-day.  Through  the  rejection  of  the  narrow 
text-book,  the  abandonment  of  the  simple  recitation, 
and  the  enlargement  of  the  student's  vision  by  per- 
sonal investigation  in  the  fields  relating  to  man's 
attainments  and  achievements  and  duties,  a  great 
advance  is  claimed  in  the  methods  of  instruction. 
Nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  where  these  meth- 
ods are  carefully  applied,  where  the  student  is  re- 
quired by  the  collection  of  facts  to  substantiate 
principles,  or  by  an  analysis  of  authors  to  exhibit 
excellences  or  defects,  or  by  a  comparison  of  author- 
ities to  detect  a  bias  or  strike  a  judicial  balance,  a 
larger  discipline  is  secured  by  him.  The  difficulty 
is,  that  with  a  large  class  the  professor  is  unable  to 
superintend  such  work,  and  to  see  that  in  its  minute- 
ness and  extent  it  is  honest  and  thorough.  In  the 
scientific  laboratory  each  man  is  furnished  with  ma- 
terials, and  during  the  two  or  three  hours  of  work 
the  professor  or  his  assistant  walks  about,  notes  the 
progress  or  the  coming  failure,  discourages  or  sets 
right  the  youthful  scientist.  But  in  these  other 
fields  the  apparatus  must  be  more  extensive;  the 
books  and  authorities  are  costly  and  permanent  and 
cannot  be  indefinitely  duplicated;  the  problems  are 


PRESIDENT   CARTER'S  ADDRESS  1 29 

more  numerous  and  call  for  different  methods ;  the 
professor  cannot  be  constantly  with  the  student  in 
his  application  of  the  methods.  These  difficulties 
with  the  larger  number  of  students  make  labo- 
rious supervision  often  impossible,  and  too  often 
result  in  the  acceptance  of  certain  general  signs  that 
the  work  has  been  done.  In  any  large  class  the 
temptation  is  always  present  for  the  teacher  to  con- 
tent himself  with  the  hour's  lecture  and  an  exami- 
nation on  the  lectures,  often  at  widely  separated 
intervals,  combined  possibly  with  the  requirement 
of  one  thesis  each  half-year.  If  the  professor  is 
giving  several  courses,  this  amount  of  work  in  each 
course  will  probably  be  all  that  his  strength  enables 
him  to  do.  He  can  remain  in  actual  ignorance  of 
the  progress  that  a  great  part  of  his  class  is  making, 
or  perhaps  I  should  say  of  the  neglect  in  which  a 
great  part  of  his  class  is  indulging.  He  may  be 
greatly  dissatisfied  that  he  cannot  know  better  the 
attitude  and  degree  of  earnestness  of  his  students. 

In  other  cases  the  careful  attention  of  a  part  of 
the  class  during  the  lecture  will  give  the  flattering 
impression  that  work  on  the  subject  is  prosecuted 
with  diligence.  The  agreeable  satisfaction  of  im- 
parting knowledge  and  the  occasional  question  from 
one  of  the  best-trained  students  will  inspire  the 
feeling  that  all  is  going  well,  a  feeling  often  rudely 
dispelled  by  the  revelation  of  the  papers  returned  on 
the  final  examination. 

0 


I30  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

I  believe  that  this  method  of  lecture  instruction 
may  have  very  great  value  for  certain  mature  under- 
graduates. It  is  assumed  that  references  to  good 
authorities  are  repeatedly  made  ;  that  a  requirement 
is  enforced  for  study  of  these  authorities  and  the 
analysis  of  their  opinions  and  the  mastery  of  the 
facts  involved.  The  best  students  will  work  intel- 
ligently and  diligently  on  the  subject  as  a  whole, 
and  certain  papers  at  the  examination  will  show 
results  as  thorough  and  encouraging  as  a  teacher 
could  desire.  But  is  it  not  true  that  in  the  compe- 
tition for  numbers  existing  in  all  the  colleges  nearly 
every  class  contains  many  students  who  will  not 
accomplish  more  than  the  actual  standard  for  the 
degree  required  ?  Are  there  not  now  in  every 
college  men  who  crowd  into  the  more  popular 
courses  because  conditions  in  these  courses  permit 
the  minimum  of  work  }  Something  of  the  popular- 
ity of  the  course  depends  on  the  excellence  of  the 
instruction,  on  brilliant  presentation  of  principles, 
on  bold  denunciation  of  systems  or  even  of  men  as 
representing  systems,  on  the  exhibition  of  rude  icon- 
oclasm,  on  a  stern  dogmatism  that  affects  liberality, 
on  the  display  of  large  learning  or  fine  taste  in  lit- 
erature, on  a  genuine  mastery  of  the  subject.  Nor 
can  it  be  denied  that  the  value,  even  to  those  who 
get  the  least  from  such  instruction,  is  something. 
But  students  may  attend  such  lectures,  lectures 
presenting  real  excellences,  and  derive  from  them 


PRESIDENT  CARTER'S  ADDRESS  131 

scarcely  anything  beyond  the  occupation  of  the  hour 
and  the  influence  of  dwelling  for  that  hour  in  an 
intellectual  atmosphere.  Possibly  there  are  students 
whom  that  atmosphere  does  not  elevate,  and  courses 
there  are  which  are  not  attended  for  the  intellectual 
stimulus  but  for  the  soporific  calm  which  pervades 
the  atmosphere.  These,  too,  help  toward  the  haven 
marked  "  B.  A." 

The  activities  not  laid  down  in  the  official  curric- 
ulum that  interest  student-life  in  these  days  have 
something  to  do  with  the  choices  of  courses  by  cer- 
tain students.  The  convenience  of  the  hours  with 
reference  to  hours  of  practice  for  games;  the  cer- 
tainty that  a  course  will  not  be  very  strenuous ;  that 
the  requirements  can  be  mastered  in  a  few  hours  of 
study  at  the  end  of  the  course  ;  the  belief  that  a  pro- 
fessor gives  every  student  a  passing  mark,  —  these 
are  sometimes  the  determining  factors  in  a  young 
man's  choices.  Determination  on  such  grounds  is 
contagious,  and  lectures  having  such  a  reputation 
will  be  popular.  I  suspect  that  it  is  true  that  in 
many  of  our  colleges  there  are  such  popular  lectures, 
where  the  hour  is  passed  by  some  students  in  a  state 
of  easy-going  indifference.  A  student  once  com- 
plained to  me  of  a  professor  in  a  large  elective  in 
one  of  our  universities  who  spoke  to  one  of  the 
members  of  his  class  engaged  in  reading  some  in- 
teresting book  and  requested  him  to  give  attention 
to  the  lecture.     "  It  was  a  beastly  act,"  the  young 


132  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

man  said,  adding,  "as  though  he  had  the  right  to 
require  anything  of  the  student  but  to  pass  the 
examination  at  the  end  of  the  course."  It  is  to  be 
feared  that  there  are  professors  who  do  not  do  even 
so  much  as  this  eminent  man  did  to  remind  their 
pupils  that  they  are  in  an  institution  of  learning. 

The  remedy  for  such  evils  is  not  always  easy  to 
find.  The  professor  claims,  and  perhaps  the  corpo- 
ration admits,  that  he  has  a  permanent  tenure  of 
office.  He  has  not  teaching  power :  I  see  it  is  ac- 
knowledged in  certain  circles  that  teaching  power  is 
not  to  be  looked  for  accompanying  high  specializa- 
tion. It  is  probably  true  that  the  power  to  impart 
knowledge  and  to  inspire  intellectual  zeal  in  a  large 
class  has  not  been  in  direct  ratio  to  the  power  to 
acquire  and  discover  truth.  Nevertheless,  the  ques- 
tion is,  How  shall  our  classes,  large  and  small,  be  best 
instructed  ?  When  in  the  days  of  the  old  teacher  a 
text-book  was  employed  and  daily  examinations  on 
an  assigned  lesson  were  exacted,  the  use  of  the  text- 
book was  often  slavish  and  formal.  No  exercise 
can  be  more  lifeless  than  one  may  become,  confined 
to  a  repetition  of  the  printed  page  of  the  required 
lesson.  Nevertheless,  the  value  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  subject  taught  secured  by  the  pupil  under  the 
old  method  may  be  regarded  in  many  cases  as 
superior  to  that  secured  by  the  simple  method  of 
lectures.  In  all  cases  in  which  the  actual  study  of 
the  subject  is  deferred  until  the  end  of  the  course, 


PRESIDENT  CARTER'S  ADDRESS  133 

when  an  examination  must  be  passed,  the  value  of 
the  knowledge  to  some  students  will  be  very  small. 
A  few  hours,  or  at  the  most  two  days,  of  cramming 
enable  the  student  to  pass  the  examination  ;  and  the 
details  of  the  subject  are  at  once  dismissed  and  for- 
gotten. In  order  to  secure  daily  attention  a  few 
minutes  may  be  given  to  inquiries  on  the  previous 
lesson.  If  these  are  oral  and  the  replies  are  oral, 
the  class  gets  at  least  the  benefit  of  a  review  of  cer- 
tain brief  points.  If  the  answers  are  written  and 
cover  any  considerable  amount  of  matter,  there  is  a 
probability  that  a  large  part  of  them  will  not  be 
examined.  For  true  improvement  each  day  the 
corrected  work  should  be  handed  back  to  each  stu- 
dent and  sometimes  discussed  with  him.  That  this 
may  be  effectively  done,  every  lecturer  to  a  large 
class  might  well  have  at  least  one  assistant  whose 
whole  time  should  be  devoted  to  examination  of 
papers  and  to  interviews  with  a  few  men  every  day 
at  a  fixed  hour.  Such  a  method  would  add  greatly 
to  the  expense  of  instruction,  and  would  require  at 
least  two  hours  for  each  ordinary  hour  of  the  course. 
One  hour  would  be  for  the  lecturer  and  the  whole 
class ;  one  hour  for  the  assistant  and  part  of  the 
class.  Such  a  plan  would  augment  the  difficulty  of 
arranging  the  schedule,  but  would  add  greatly,  if 
the  assistant  were  successful  (if  he  were  not,  the 
failure  would  be  dismal),  to  the  mastery  by  each 
student  of  the  subject. 


134  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

It  seems  to  me  that  when  the  facilities  permit  it 
some  such  method  might  be  adopted,  particularly  in 
those  courses  where  the  numbers  rise  to  one  hun- 
dred or  more.  It  would  be  probably  a  wise  restric- 
tion if  the  number  in  any  course  were  limited.  A 
professor  lecturing  to  three  divisions  of  fifty  each 
might  surely  still  employ  an  assistant  to  know  how 
the  work  of  each  student  was  done.  The  labor  of 
such  assistants  would  be  irksome  and  exhausting, 
and  the  difference  between  the  life  of  the  professor 
and  the  life  of  such  an  assistant  would  be  extreme. 
But  the  attainment  of  the  best  educational  results 
in  our  large  colleges  calls,  wherever  the  lecture  sys- 
tem prevails,  for  supplementary  supervision  of  the 
most  rigid  character.  Where  the  college  is  smaller 
and  the  resources  do  not  permit  of  this  distribution 
of  work,  there  should  be  a  careful  avoidance  of  the 
lecture  system  as  the  sole  method  of  instruction.  If 
the  university  can  command  the  highest  specializing 
power,  the  smaller  college  ought  to  aim  to  secure 
and  develop  teachers  of  the  best  quality.  The  im- 
partation,  not  the  discovery,  of  truth  must  be  the 
supreme  idea  of  the  college  as  distinguished  from 
the  university.  Under  this  view  much  may  be  said 
for  the  despised  text-book,  —  rightly  to  be  despised 
if  it  cover  all  the  truth  presented ;  greatly  to  be 
honored  if  it  be  only  the  basis  of  wider  discussion, 
of  careful  analysis,  of  searching  inquiry  into  related 
questions  and  cognate  difficulties.    It  may  well  serve 


PRESIDENT   CARTER'S   ADDRESS  1 35 

to  determine  how  much  previous  thought  the  stu- 
dent has  given  to  the  subject,  and  how  far  he  can 
acquire  the  control  of  the  facts,  principles,  or  logical 
statements  of  a  master  in  any  direction.  It  may 
well  serve  as  a  minimum  of  knowledge  to  be  re- 
quired for  a  training  of  that  faculty  —  often  con- 
temptuously regarded  in  these  days  by  a  bumptious 
leader  of  college  thought  —  of  accurate  verbal  mem- 
ory, without  which,  in  certain  lines  of  life,  a  man 
will  never  have  even  the  appearance  of  being  edu- 
cated. This  contempt  of  a  verbal  memory  has  been 
increased  by  the  introduction  of  the  lecture  system 
and  the  slighter  use  of  text-books  in  the  preparatory 
schools. 

The  verbal  memory  may  indeed  be  cultivated  at 
the  expense  of  all  intelligence.  The  children  who 
were  ready  to  state  that  the  centre  of  the  earth  is 
"  in  a  state  of  igneous  fusion,"  but  did  not  know,  if 
this  be  the  case,  that  the  interior  of  the  earth  grows 
warmer  as  one  approaches  that  centre,  may  stand  as 
an  illustration  of  the  extreme  folly  of  the  use  of  a 
text-book  unaccompanied  by  intelligent  explanation. 
They  might  also  stand  for  the  absurd  confusion  in 
which  a  phrase  caught  here  and  there  from  a  lecture 
often  leaves  a  college  class.  The  student  who  wrote, 
in  reply  to  an  inquiry  as  to  the  constituents  of  the 
body,  "  The  body  is  mostly  composed  of  water,  and 
about  one-half  is  avaricious  tissue,"  had  probably 
been  attending  a  course  of  lectures  in  his  junior 


136  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

year  on  physiology.  By  the  insistence  on  exact 
statements  in  every  line  of  study  in  the  college 
class-room,  accompanied  by  searching  inquiry  as  to 
whether  the  student  understands  the  statements  he 
is  giving,  and  by  the  impartation  of  some  new  in- 
formation, the  bringing  of  fresh  illustrations  into 
the  field  to  arouse  new  interest,  —  in  a  word,  by 
the  combination  of  the  text-book,  the  lecture,  the 
Socratic  dialogue,  the  examination,  and  the  require- 
ment of  research  into  specified  authors,  —  the  old 
ideal  of  teaching  may  be  revived.  It  is  for  this  kind 
of  training  that  the  college  ought  to  stand  ;  for 
faithful  work  on  the  subject  outside  of  the  class- 
room ;  for  the  fixed  and  undivided  attention  of 
every  student  in  the  room ;  for  the  enlarged  vision  by 
the  introduction  of  new  matter  and  illustrations, — 
always  with  the  understanding  that  at  any  moment 
the  pupil  may  be  called  upon  to  give  the  points  of 
any  process  or  movement  already  presented.  It  is 
along  these  lines  of  work  that  the  smaller  college 
has  hitherto  maintained  its  dignity ;  and  this  kind 
of  work,  in  these  days  of  larger  resources  and  deeper 
interest  in  pedagogy  and  more  careful  differentia- 
tion, still  has  its  place.  It  matters  not  how  much 
information  is  poured  into  a  student's  mind  if  it  is 
not  vivified  by  interest  and  clearly  understood  and 
well  assimilated.  A  very  little  knowledge  imparted 
under  right  conditions  may  produce  excellent  re- 
sults in  the  inspiration  to  larger  attainments.    Any 


PRESIDENT   CARTER'S  ADDRESS  1 37 

amount  of  information,  unless  the  interest  is  keen, 
the  attention  fixed,  and  the  student  sent  out  with 
larger  comprehension  of  the  relations  of  the  subject, 
and  quickened  to  a  new  sense  that  strenuous  effort 
on  his  part  alone  will  issue  in  training  and  knowl- 
edge, is  worthless. 

While  the  exciting  of  interest  and  attention  may 
be  diligently  studied  by  the  lecturer  in  his  presenta- 
tion, it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  a  large  class  the 
remoteness  of  the  relation  between  the  lecturer  and 
the  average  student  is  such  that  the  best  efforts  are 
with  some  unsuccessful.  It  is  beyond  contradiction 
that  the  personal  contact  of  mind  with  mind,  by 
direct  question,  will  evoke  a  sense  of  responsibility 
on  the  part  of  the  student,  and  usually  that  sense  of 
responsibility  will  result  in  work.  Furthermore,  the 
student's  answers  and  inquiries  may  lead,  under  the 
guidance  of  a  skilful  teacher,  to  an  illumination  of 
the  greatest  value  for  the  entire  class.  The  text- 
book may  be  antiquated  and  yet  the  exercise  wholly 
invigorating  and  stimulating.  It  is  equally  true  that 
the  text-book  may  be  wholly  modern  and  masterly, 
and  its  use  without  profit  in  the  hands  of  a  slow  or 
careless  teacher.  But  the  assumption  that  he  who 
uses  a  text-book  is  necessarily  a  poor  teacher  and 
behind  the  times  may  be  the  assumption  that  the 
deepest  interest  in  the  progress  of  every  pupil,  and 
the  most  conscientious  effort  to  secure  that  progress, 
and  the  insistence  on  a  high  standard  of  attainment 


138  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

for  each,  are  worth  less  than  an  exhaustive  but  pos- 
sibly uninspiring  display  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
latest  literature,  or  an  eagerness  to  advance  theories 
subversive  of  the  most  precious  inheritances  in  philo- 
sophic truth. 

It  is  certainly  true  that  for  the  right  kind  of 
teaching  with  a  text-book  a  class  of  more  than  fifty 
becomes  burdensome;  but  with  the  use  of  a  text- 
book under  the  true  method,  a  class  of  fifty  may 
surely  derive  as  much  benefit  as  a  class  of  fifty 
under  the  lecture  system,  even  where  the  lecturer 
has  an  assistant  to  examine  papers  and  secure  the 
outside  work.  This  use  of  the  text-book  as  a  basis 
has  the  great  advantage  that  it  brings  each  member 
of  a  class  into  closer  personal  relation  with  the 
master  instead  of  relegating  him  to  the  assistant. 
For  a  class  of  a  hundred  this  method  is  less  likely 
to  succeed  because  it  is  less  easy,  indeed  very  diffi- 
cult, for  the  teacher  to  be  sure  that  genuine  work  is 
done  by  each  student  outside  of  class.  If  in  this 
day  of  material  splendor  large  numbers  are  gradu- 
ated to  whom  many  courses  have  meant  little  except 
the  requirement  of  attendance  and  a  few  hours'  study 
at  the  end  of  the  course,  will  it  not  be  well  to  turn 
some  of  the  money  which  easily  goes  into  costly 
architecture  to  such  a  provision  for  instruction  as 
will  everywhere  reduce  the  size  of  divisions  and 
make  the  personal  power  of  each  good  teacher  more 
effective.?     The  great  increase  in  the  number  of 


PRESIDENT   CARTER'S  ADDRESS  1 39 

those  who  now  pursue  graduate  studies  and  get  a 
large  fire  of  inspiration  from  direct  contact  with  our 
best  masters  should  make  it  possible,  by  multiplying 
teachers,  to  give  larger  significance  to  the  bachelor's 
degree. 

Ought  not  a  closer  supervision  to  be  exercised 
over  younger  teachers  ?  Is  it  not  possible  that  the 
importance  of  personal  liberty  in  the  method  of  our 
teachers  is  exaggerated  ?  Is  not  the  careful  training 
of  the  undergraduates  the  supreme  end,  and  should 
not  everything  be  subordinated  to  that  end  ?  I 
would  also  ask  whether  the  title  "university,"  rightly 
held  by  certain  institutions  where  the  students  at- 
tending the  undergraduate  courses  still  constitute 
at  least  one-half  of  the  entire  body,  may  not  some- 
times give  an  instructor  the  feeling  that  university 
methods  are  applicable  to  all  his  classes?  Are  not 
some  of  our  younger  teachers  likely  to  be  affected 
by  the  conceit  that  to  teach  in  a  university,  or  even 
in  a  college,  to  a  class  of  fifty  absolves  from  all  re- 
sponsibility for  individuals  and  calls  for  an  elegant 
or  eloquent  lecture  ?  Are  there  not  in  all  our  col- 
leges and  universities  students  whose  minds  are  not 
trained  to  the  mastery  of  a  lecture ;  to  the  grasping 
and  retaining,  in  the  brief  time  of  its  delivery,  the 
fine  definitions  and  distinctions  conveyed  by  the 
lecture?  And  if  notes  are  written  for  the  student 
by  a  hearer  and  printed  in  a  syllabus,  to  be  mastered 
at  the  end  of  the  course,  we  have  the  old  text-book 


I40  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

method  in  its  worst  form ;  for  whatever  its  accu- 
racy, the  text-book  is  probably  one-twentieth,  or  at 
best  one-tenth,  of  the  proper  size,  and  attention  in 
the  class-room  is  made  unnecessary.  Are  there  not 
immature  and  indolent  students,  or  even  well-trained 
but  erratic  students,  in  the  classes  of  our  institutions 
who  need  much  more  attention?  Many  of  them 
fall  out,  as  things  are  now ;  but  is  not  the  individual, 
personal  student  worth  more  attention  than  he  gets 
anywhere?  Surely  we  ought  not  to  forget  that  a 
careful  stimulation  rightly  applied,  supervision  in 
the  largest  sense  of  the  progress  of  each  student,  is 
the  problem,  perhaps  the  greatest  problem,  demand- 
ing now  the  attention  of  all  responsible  for  the 
training  of  those  crowding  our  class-rooms,  and, 
nominally  at  least,  studying  for  the  bachelor's  de- 
gree. The  only  ground  of  release  from  such  super- 
vision would  seem  to  be  that  it  is  impossible. 

The  recognition  of  authority  has  everywhere 
diminished,  and  the  colleges  have  much  more  to 
contend  with  than  once  in  this  age  of  increasing 
luxury,  elective  courses,  and  obedient  parents.  Their 
greatness,  however,  will  never  cease  to  depend  on 
the  efficiency  with  which  the  powers  of  their  stu- 
dents are  trained  and  coordinated  to  the  highest 
service.  If  supervision  becomes  impossible,  young 
men  will  still  be  graduated  who  will  attain  great 
eminence.  Many  who  do  little  work  in  college  will 
get  a  lifelong  advantage  from  residence  and  attri- 


PRESIDENT  CARTER'S  ADDRESS  141 

tion  with  teachers  and  comrades  in  college  halls. 
But  the  American  college  will  have  lost  that  which 
has  made  it  a  powerful  instrument  in  developing 
respect  of  authority  and  awakening  the  keenest  sense 
of  responsibility  to  the  State  and  the  Church. 


ADDRESS 

By  president  MATTHEW  H.  BUCKHAM 
THE   MORAL   LIFE   OF  THE   COLLEGE 

I  SHALL  treat  my  subject  under  two  heads: 
First,  the  moral  life  of  the  college  for  the  sake 
of  the  intellectual;  secondly,  the  moral  life  for 
its  own  sake. 

That  the  moral  life  of  the  college  affects  the 
intellectual  life  for  good  or  evil,  affects  it  widely  and 
deeply,  is  a  fact  of  such  common  experience  that  we 
dwell  on  it  not  so  much  for  confirmation  as  for  re- 
flection. It  would  not,  I  think,  be  extravagant  to 
say  that  by  far  the  most  important  element  in  col- 
lege life  contributing  to  healthy  and  vigorous  intel- 
lectual activity  is  moral  soundness,  and  consequently 
moral  vitality,  in  the  academic  body.  And  I  mean 
by  this  all  that  it  seems  to  mean  :  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  have  a  high  degree  of  intellectual  vigor,  a 
high  and  fine  intellectual  tone,  without  having  be- 
neath it  and  around  it  and  all  through  it  a  prevailing 
and  inspiring  moral  earnestness,  all  the  better  and 
more  effective  if  it  reach  even  to  spirituality.  I 
venture  the  assertion  that  no  college  man  present 
can  recall  a  time  in  his  college  experience  which 
142 


PRESIDENT   BUCKHAM'S  ADDRESS  1 43 

was  a  time  of  unusual  scholarship  and  which  was  not 
also  a  time  of  unusual  moral  and  perhaps  even  relig- 
ious elevation.  And  calling  to  mind  our  phenomen- 
al classes  —  we  have  all  had  them  —  do  not  those 
classes  represent  to  our  memories  a  personal  charac- 
ter as  conspicuous  as  was  their  intellectual  brilliancy? 
And  those  other  times  and  other  classes  that  we 
look  back  upon  with  no  pleasurable  memories,  times 
when  evil  influences  seemed  to  be  in  the  air,  when 
our  days  were  made  anxious  and  our  nights  restless 
by  some  malign  agency  which  we  could  not  over- 
come, were  not  those  the  times  when  scholarship 
was  at  its  lowest,  and  when  we  expected  nothing 
better  than  dull  classes  and  a  dreary  mediocrity  in 
the  intellectual  outcome  ? 

For  this  influence  of  the  moral  upon  the  intellec- 
tual life  there  are  two  obvious  reasons.  The  first  is, 
that  the  moral  life  alone  can  furnish  the  requisite 
conditions  for  zest  in  intellectual  pursuits.  We 
count  among  the  fundamental  and  universal  endow- 
ments of  the  human  mind,  desire  for  knowledge,  the 
pleasure  of  acquiring  it,  the  joy  of  possessing  it. 
But  this  natural  desire  has  full  play  only  when  the 
moral  environment  is  favorable  to  its  exercise. 
Amid  the  innocence  of  childhood  it  has  free  and 
happy  scope  and  range.  With  what  perpetual  and 
insatiable  delight  the  child  adds  to  its  knowledge 
during  every  waking  hour  of  its  existence.  Living 
is  mainly  learning,   and    it  is   pure  joy.     Nothing 


144  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

daunts  or  discourages  or  fatigues.  A  child  that 
can  learn  so  difficult  a  thing  as  language,  especially 
the  English  language,  and  learn  it  without  fret  or 
tears,  can  learn  anything  it  may  ever  have  to  learn, 
if  the  conditions  are  as  favorable.  This  pleasurable 
acquiring  of  knowledge  continues  with  the  boy  or 
girl  so  long  as  physical  health  is  preserved  and  wise 
supervision  keeps  out  distracting  influences  and  se- 
cures the  right  grades  up  which  knowledge  is  easily 
pursued.  But  let  some  untoward  influence  come  in 
upon  the  moral  life,  some  influence  which  even  if  it 
is  not  positively  bad  yet  disturbs  the  normal  condi- 
tion of  the  general  life,  and  how  soon  and  how  easily 
this  love  of  learning,  love  of  study,  abates  and  is  lost. 
Healthy  sport  does  not  interfere  with  it,  —  sustains 
it,  rather, — but  any  amusement  or  occupation  which 
either  by  its  character  or  its  excess  intrudes  a  rival 
or  alien  element  into  the  moral  experience  tends  to 
diminish  zest  in  intellectual  pursuits.  The  moral 
atmosphere  must  be  clear,  must  have  plenty  of  oxy- 
gen, and  a  due  amount  of  ozone,  and  must  be  free 
from  all  noxious  elements ;  otherwise  the  eyes  grow 
dull,  the  pulse  flags,  and  the  intellectual  fibre  is  lost. 
A  healthy  college  life  is  one  of  the  essential  condi- 
tions of  high  intellectual  attainment,  — a  life  of  reg- 
ular hours ;  of  quiet,  restful  nights  ;  a  due  amount  of 
happy,  exhilarating  sport ;  helpful  influences  at  home 
or  following  one  from  home ;  leisure  from  care  and 
all  intense  feeling ;  the  calm  which  comes  from  a 


PRESIDENT   BUCKHAM'S   ADDRESS  1 45 

good  conscience  and  a  right  purpose  and  a  relig- 
ious trust,  —  all  this  furnishes  the  best,  even  the  nec- 
essary condition  for  the  maximum  of  intellectual 
zest  and  enthusiasm. 

Another  dependence  of  the  intellectual  upon  the 
moral  life  of  the  college  is  for  the  motives  which 
sustain  and  inspire  it.  No  actual  or  imaginable 
vocation  of  mankind  could  be  more  delightful  than 
that  of  teaching  young  men  and  women  who  were 
eager  to  learn.  If  only  the  main  work  of  college 
were  to  guide  into  right  channels  the  youthful  ardor 
for  knowledge !  But  this,  alas,  is  not  the  situation 
which  we  have  to  deal  with.  It  is  a  great  mistake 
to  assume  that  it  is,  —  the  mistake  which  so  many 
teachers  make,  and  fail  because  they  make.  The 
teacher  is  fortunate  who  finds  a  few  in  his  class  who 
are  alert  and  responsive  to  his  teachings;  the  rest  are 
for  the  most  part  indifferent  or  waiting.  In  face  of 
this  situation  the  ordinary  teacher  murmurs,  scolds, 
threatens,  vents  his  spleen  against  the  lower  schools, 
declares  that  the  only  remedy  is  to  weed  out  this 
inferior  material,  and  would,  if  he  had  his  way,  make 
almost  a  solitude  and  call  it  peace.  The  superior 
teacher  is  well  represented  in  what  was  once  said  to 
me  by  one  of  the  leading  teachers  in  our  most  fa- 
mous university :  "  When  things  are  not  going  right 
in  my  class,  I  always  assume  first  that  the  fault  is  in 
me,  —  at  least,  I  always  ask  if  the  remedy  is  not  in 
something  I  can  do."    Now  in  such  cases,  in  all  cases 


146  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

when  the  wise  and  loving  instructor  is  studying 
ways  and  means  for  promoting  the  welfare  of  his 
pupils,  he  will  find  great  help  in  working  upon  the 
moral  side  of  the  problem.  I  spoke  of  this  under 
the  former  head  under  its  corrective  aspect ;  we  are 
now  considering  it  on  its  dynamic  side.  What  one 
of  the  many  available  motives  to  intellectual  effort 
can  I  put  into  action  ?  Shame  for  low  standing  or 
failure  in  class,  dread  of  the  displeasure  of  parents 
or  friends,  the  spirit  of  emulation,  —  these  only  as 
lower  motives  leading  to  something  higher,  —  the 
sense  of  obligation,  the  rewards  of  earnest  effort,  the 
prospect  of  future  success,  the  pleasure  of  a  sense 
of  growth  and  of  power,  gratitude,  affection,  in- 
creased power  of  usefulness,  —  some  or  all  these 
prudential  and  moral  forces  can  be  turned  into  mo- 
tives for  a  more  strenuous  intellectual  life.  But  the 
effectiveness  of  all  these  forces  can  be  multiplied 
many  fold  by  the  personality  which  transmits  them 
to  individual  minds.  Proper  rules,  general  exhorta- 
tions, admonitions,  —  what  are  they  all  worth  in 
appeals  to  souls,  compared  with  strong,  engaging, 
sweet,  masterful  personality,  such  as  that  of  Jowett 
of  Balliol,  Arnold  of  Rugby,  Woolsey  of  Yale,  Hop- 
kins of  Williams,  Agassiz  of  Harvard!  From  Soc- 
rates to  Father  Taylor,  personality  has  always  been 
the  strongest  force  in  education.  It  is  not  a  dis- 
covery of  modern  times.  But  our  own  generation 
has  seen  a  great  change  in  this  regard.     More  and 


PRESIDENT   BUCKHAM'S   ADDRESS  1 47 

more  in  our  time  teachers  and  pupils  are  coming 
into  those  genial  relations  in  which  personality  be- 
comes most  effective,  —  the  relation  of  older  friend 
to  younger,  both  working  together  in  the  same  field 
and  with  the  same  spirit,  —  each  contributing  to  the 
other  something  that  makes  the  life  of  each  richer 
and  happier. 

And  another  great  force  of  which  the  college  can 
avail  itself  for  intellectual  ends  is  the  social  force. 
When  graduates  say  that  what  they  most  value  and 
cherish  in  their  college  career  is  the  social  part  of  it, 
they  mean  not  merely  that  this  was  a  source  of  enjoy- 
ment, but  that  these  social  influences,  the  compan- 
ionship of  men  of  intellect  and  culture,  enlarged  and 
stimulated  and  sweetened  their  lives.  And  this  is 
what  academic  life  ought  to  do,  and  in  normal  con- 
ditions does  for  every  student.  These  social  influ- 
ences come  from  three  sources :  from  the  academic 
body  as  a  whole,  from  fraternity  life,  and  from  the 
extra-collegiate  community. 

The  esprit  de  corps  of  the  academic  body  as  a 
whole  is  the  joint  product  of  the  Faculty  wdth  their 
families  and  the  students,  of  which  the  paramount 
factor  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  faculty  element,  leaving 
at  the  same  time  to  the  student  portion  freedom 
and  the  full  consciousness  of  it,  and  the  frankest 
utterance,  and  all  the  vivacity  and  frolic  humor 
which  are  the  privilege  and  charm  of  youth.  But 
the  Faculty,  as  individuals  and  as  a  body,  by  their 


148  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

own  intellectual  activity,  by  their  leadership  in  lit- 
erary and  scientific  enterprise,  by  their  progressive 
spirit  and  pioneership  in  their  specialties,  should 
create  a  collegiate  atmosphere  which  would  be  stim- 
ulating to  the  whole  academic  body,  and  compel 
even  the  dullards  either  to  rouse  themselves  to  ac- 
tivity or  betake  themselves  to  occupations  in  which 
less  intellectual  exertion  is  required. 

Of  the  fraternity  spirit  and  influence  in  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  life  of  college,  most  college  men 
now  think  favorably.  The  fraternities  are  usually 
confederacies  for  good  purposes  through  good 
means.  The  fears  entertained  by  many  good  men 
when  these  fraternities  were  first  established  have 
not  been  justified,  and  in  most  cases  the  fears  have 
been  given  up.  In  the  only  institution  I  know  of 
in  which  fraternities  are  prohibited,  neither  the  in- 
tellectual nor  the  moral  tone  is  conspicuously  higher 
than  in  institutions  where  they  are  permitted.  The 
only  serious  objection  raised  against  them,  so  far  as 
I  know,  is  the  danger  that  in  every  institution  there 
will  be  some  one  fraternity  which  will  gather  into  it 
the  few  men  of  the  baser  sort  and  give  them  a  power 
for  evil  which  they  would  not  otherwise  have.  But 
such  a  fraternity,  it  would  seem,  would  be  likely  to 
have  a  short  and  miserable  existence  in  the  face  of 
its  rivals. 

This  brings  us  to  speak  briefly  of  the  moral  life 
of  the  college  in  and  for  itself.  There  are  two  notions 


PRESIDENT  BUCKHAM'S  ADDRESS  1 49 

which  are  so  commonly  accepted  as  to  be  regarded 
as  almost  axiomatic,  but  which  will  bear  a  little 
questioning.  One  is,  that  school  and  college  are 
chargeable  with  responsibility  for  the  moral  char- 
acter of  the  pupils ;  and  the  other,  that  morality  can 
be  secured  by  instruction.  Now,  the  latter  is  true 
to  a  very  limited  extent.  Children  and  youth  are 
not  made  good  by  teaching  them  what  goodness  is 
any  more  than  they  are  made  rich  by  teaching  them 
the  science  of  wealth.  Virtue  is  not  knowledge, — 
it  is  not  right  judgment  merely,  —  it  is  right  desire, 
right  choosing,  right  will.  It  is  induced  in  young 
minds  and  lives  by  training,  by  discipline,  by  love 
cooperating  with  law,  by  personality  communicat- 
ing itself  to  personality,  life  giving  itself  to  life. 
The  two  great  agencies  divinely  appointed  for  doing 
this  are  the  home  and  the  church.  The  school  and 
the  college  cannot  do  this  work  if  the  home  and  the 
church  leave  their  part  undone.  It  can  supplement 
their  work;  it  cannot  fulfil  it.  Parents  cannot  send 
to  college  a  boy  of  unsettled  or  low  moral  character 
and  expect  the  college  to  make  a  good  man  of  him. 
In  most  cases  it  is  too  late  for  that.  This  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  painfully  obvious  as  the  age 
of  entering  college  has  increased.  Moral  character 
has  already  become  more  or  less  fixed.  The  college 
cannot  be  turned  into  a  reformatory  without  lower- 
ing the  moral  tone  of  the  whole  college  community. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  college  has  a  unique 


I50  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

opportunity  for  maturing  and  enriching  character 
which  has  passed  through  its  initial  stages  success- 
fully. What  the  college  cannot  do,  and  should  not 
be  called  on  to  do,  is  to  make  average  good  men  out 
of  weaklings  and  reprobates.  What  it  can  do,  and 
ought  always  to  aim  to  do,  is  work  of  another  sort. 
It  has  to  do  with  the  picked  men  and  women  of  the 
community  whom  society,  by  a  kind  of  natural  selec- 
tion, has  chosen  to  perform  its  higher  functions. 
These  few  the  college  should  aim  to  bring  up  to  the 
highest  attainable  moral  standard;  to  idealize  life 
in  them,  and  through  them  to  elevate  the  whole 
community.  "  What  do  ye  more  than  others  ? " 
should  be  felt  as  a  deep  reproach  by  the  academic 
body.  Society  may  fairly  say  to  us,  "  For  what 
have  I  given  you  these  special  opportunities  for 
self-culture,  this  seclusion  from  the  humdrum  life 
of  the  general  world,  these  costly  appliances  for 
study;  why  are  so  many  consecrated  gifts  bestowed 
on  you;  why  are  you  prayed  for  in  so  many  litanies, 
—  but  that  you  may  work  out  a  higher  style  of 
living,  first  for  yourself  and  then  for  us  all } " 

And  we  have  one  great  and  special  opportunity 
for  accomplishing  this.  The  great  Apostle  wrote  to 
his  young  converts :  "  I  would  have  you  wise  unto 
that  which  is  good  and  simple  concerning  evil." 
The  great  privilege  of  college  life,  as  also  its  great 
duty,  is  to  be  associated  ever  with  that  which  is 
highest  and  best  in  human  thought  and   human 


PRESIDENT   BUCKHAM'S   ADDRESS  151 

life;  to  think  with  its  great  thinkers;  to  think 
God's  thoughts  and  the  thoughts  of  men  most  like 
God,  after  them ;  to  master  the  great  truths  of  his- 
tory and  literature  and  art  and  science ;  to  be  sepa- 
rate for  the  time  from  all  that  is  mean  and  low  and 
petty  in  human  life ;  and  by  familiarity  with  all  that 
is  noble  and  good  to  grow  into  the  likeness  of  that 
on  which  the  mind  and  heart  do  mainly  dwell.  And 
I  think  we  may  fairly  ask  the  community  to  sustain 
us  in  this  high  conception  of  what  college  member- 
ship requires  of  us.  You  pay  us  no  compliment 
when  you  excuse  in  us  what  you  would  condemn  in 
others;  when  you  condone  faults  in  us  which  would 
shock  you  if  committed  by  others.  The  highest 
service  which  a  community  surrounding  a  college 
can  render  to  it  is  to  require  as  a  condition  of  its 
respect  and  loyalty  a  standard  of  character  in  its 
members  distinctly  higher  than  it  requires  of  the 
average  man. 

If  I  proceed  now  to  say  a  very  few  words  on  relig- 
ion in  college  life,  it  is  rather  because  it  will  be 
expected  of  me  than  that  I  hope  to  give  forth  much 
wisdom  on  the  subject.  The  old  monastic  idea  of 
college  life  which  charged  the  college  authorities 
with  the  religious  culture  of  the  students  has  gone 
out  of  date.  The  college  is  not  now  entrusted  with 
the  means  to  accomplish  this,  and  therefore  does 
not  undertake  it.  But  the  academic  body,  though 
no  longer  a  clerical  body,  is  still  a  religious  body, 


152  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

because  it  cannot  discharge  its  high  function  as 
a  creator  of  character  for  public  service  without 
including  religion  as  one  of  the  essential  elements 
of  character.  But  it  accomplishes  this  best  by  co- 
operating with  the  Christian  Church  in  the  use  of 
those  agencies  by  which  it  seeks  to  cultivate  relig- 
ious character.  The  college  gives  to  these  agencies 
opportunity,  encouragement,  sympathy,  participa- 
tion. It  does  not  send  the  student  to  church  to  be 
trained  as  by  a  distinct  organization ;  it  takes  him 
by  the  hand  and  goes  with  him,  partakes  with  him 
in  its  offices,  services,  ministrations,  beneficences. 
It  is  not  good  for  students  to  get  the  notion  of 
a  religion  for  them  different  from  the  religion  of 
others,  —  a  kind  of  esoteric  religion ;  good  for 
scholars,  but  too  fine  for  men  in  general.  Better 
that  they  scatter  among  the  churches  and  share  the 
life  of  a  common  Christian  humanity. 

As  regards  religious  services  conducted  by  the 
college,  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  and  invidious 
rhetoric  has  been  called  forth  by  what  some  are 
pleased  to  term  "  compulsory  worship,"  —  a  term 
which,  divested  of  its  war  paint,  means  simply  re- 
quired attendance  at  religious  exercises,  —  a  prac- 
tice which  students  who  have  come  from  the  homes 
and  churches  of  New  England  would  never  regard 
as  a  restraint  of  liberty  if  their  feelings  had  not  been 
played  upon  by  those  who  have  no  sympathy  with 
any  religious  exercises.    But  it  may  be  that  the  time 


PRESIDENT   BUCKHAM'S  ADDRESS  1 53 

has  come  for  modifying  this  college  function,  as  we 
have  modified  most  others,  so  that  we  may  retain 
the  essential  benefit  of  it  in  some  new  forms  more 
in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  time.  To  con- 
tinue morning  chapel  as  it  now  is  and  make  attend- 
ance voluntary,  would,  in  all  our  smaller  colleges, 
simply  end  in  abolishing  it  altogether;  and  very 
few,  surely,  desire  that.  Many  of  us  are  hoping  that 
some  college  will  devise  and  lead  the  way  in  estab- 
lishing some  form  of  religious  exercise  in  which 
all  the  academic  body.  Faculty  and  students,  can 
heartily  join,  and  thus  retain  and  increase  the  be- 
neficent influence  of  religion  upon  both  the  intel- 
lectual and  the  moral  life  of  college. 


ADDRESS 

By  president  WILLIAM  J.  TUCKER 
THE   COLLEGE  CURRICULUM 

ONE  of  the  first  contracts  for  instruction  in 
Dartmouth  College  ran  as  follows;  it 
bears  date  of  November  9,  1777:  — 

"An  agreement  between  the  Reverend  Doctor 
Eleazar  Wheelock,  president  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, and  Mr.  John  Smith,  late  tutor  of  the  same, 
with  respect  to  said  Mr.  Smith's  settlement  and 
salary  in  capacity  of  professor  of  the  languages 
in  Dartmouth  College. 

"  Mr.  Smith  agrees  to  settle  as  Professor  of  Eng- 
lish, Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  etc.,  in  Dart- 
mouth College,  to  teach  which,  and  as  many  of  these 
and  other  such  languages  as  he  shall  understand,  as 
the  Trustees  shall  judge  necessary  and  practicable 
for  one  man,  and  also  to  read  lectures  on  them,  as 
often  as  the  president,  tutors,  etc.,  with  himself,  shall 
judge  profitable  for  the  Seminary.  He  also  agrees, 
while  he  can  do  it  consistently  with  his  office  as 
Professor,  annually  to  serve  as  tutor  to  a  class  of 
students  in  the  College.  In  consideration  of  which, 
154 


PRESIDENT  TUCKER'S  ADDRESS  1 55 

Dr.  Wheelock  agrees  to  give  him  (the  said  Mr. 
Smith)  one  hundred  pounds  L.  My.  annually,  as  a 
salary  to  be  paid,  one-half  in  money,  and  the  other 
half  in  money  or  in  necessary  articles  for  a  family." 

I  have  quoted  this  early  contract,  made  just  be- 
fore the  founding  of  Middlebury  College,  to  show 
the  utter  absence  at  that  time  of  "questions"  touch- 
ing the  college  curriculum.  Given  your  professor 
of  languages,  with  unlimited  range,  a  professor  in 
divinity  or  philosophy,  and  a  tutor  in  mathematics, 
and  you  had  the  outfit.  The  college  curriculum 
remained  practically  the  same  far  into  the  present 
century. 

Senator  Hoar,  in  a  recent  article  on  "  Harvard 
College  Fifty-eight  Years  Ago,"  gives  this  personal 
reminiscence :  — 

"  I  do  not  think  Harvard  College  had  changed 
very  much  when  I  entered  it  on  my  sixteenth  birth- 
day, in  the  year  1842,  in  manners,  character  of  stu- 
dents or  teachers,  or  the  course  of  instruction,  for 
nearly  a  century.  There  were  some  elementary 
lectures  and  recitations  in  astronomy  and  mechanics. 
There  was  a  short  course  of  lectures  on  chemistry, 
accompanied  by  a  few  experiments.  But  the  stu- 
dents had  no  opportunity  for  laboratory  work. 
There  was  a  delightful  course  of  instruction  from 
Dr.  Walker  in  ethics  and  metaphysics.  There  was 
also  some  instruction  in  modern  languages,  —  Ger- 
man, French,  and  Italian,  —  all  of  very  slight  value. 


156  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

But  the  substance  of  the  instruction  consisted  in 
learning  to  translate  rather  easy  Latin  and  Greek, 
writing  Latin,  and  courses  in  algebra  and  geometry 
not  very  far  advanced." 

If  there  was  anything  in  education,  until  within 
what  may  be  called  our  own  times,  absolutely  fixed, 
accepted  with  unquestioned  authority,  it  was  the 
college  curriculum.  The  college  was  the  acknowl- 
edged master  in  the  field  of  the  higher  education. 
The  schools  which  ventured  beyond  the  range  of 
elementary  instruction  were  "  fitting  schools."  To- 
day if  there  is  any  one  thing  in  the  higher  education 
unfixed,  undetermined  at  every  point,  it  is  the  col- 
lege curriculum.  Whether  you  consider  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  college  discipline,  or  its  arrangement, 
or  its  adjustment  to  that  which  precedes  or  which 
follows  after,  you  are  instantly  within  current 
discussion. 

In  the  few  moments  in  which  I  speak  upon  this 
topic  I  must  content  myself,  and  ask  you  to  be  con- 
tent, with  the  expression  of  opinion.  This  is  not 
the  time  or  the  place  for  argument. 

The  subject-matter  of  the  college  discipline  has 
nearly  trebled  in  volume  within  our  generation 
through  the  incoming  of  the  sciences  with  the  sci- 
entific method,  and  through  the  incoming  of  the 
new  humanities  based  on  history,  with  its  applica- 
tion to  economics,  politics,  and  sociology,  and  upon 
the  modern  languages  and  literatures.     The  marvel 


PRESIDENT  TUCKER'S  ADDRESS  1 57 

of  this  great  increase  has  been  the  naturalness  of 
the  process.  The  new  learning  has  come  in  by  the 
way  of  hospitality.  The  old  learning  has  played 
the  host  with  generosity,  often  to  the  degree  of 
sacrifice. 

There  have  been,  however,  two  difficulties  attend- 
ing this  incoming  of  the  new  subject-matter  into  the 
college  curriculum.  The  first  difficulty  has  been 
that  of  securing  preparation  for  it  in  the  secondary 
schools  equal  to  the  preparation  already  given  for 
the  old  subject-matter.  A  part  of  this  difficulty  will 
pass  away  with  time.  The  modern  languages  can 
be  taught,  and  will  be  taught,  with  more  and  more 
regard  to  their  academic  value,  though  I  doubt  if 
they  can  ever  become  in  this  stage  the  full  equiva- 
lent of  the  ancient  classics.  French  is  the  language 
of  style.  No  language  admits  of  finer  discrimina- 
tions. But  the  sense  of  style  comes  late  in  the 
process  of  culture.  For  the  first  three  years  at  least, 
Greek  has  an  inherent  advantage  over  French.  The 
physical  sciences,  especially  physics,  are  so  depend- 
ent upon  mathematics  that  it  is  impossible  to  carry 
them  far  beyond  the  stage  of  manipulation  in  the 
secondary  schools.  As  a  rule,  a  year  of  college 
mathematics  must  precede  the  thorough  study  of 
physics.  History,  too,  when  pursued  by  a  scientific 
method,  is  a  study  of  maturity.  One  may  learn 
dates  and  become  familiar  with  historic  men  and 
events  at  an  early  period.      But  the  judgment  of 


158  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

men  or  of  events,  the  tracing  of  results  to  their 
causes,  the  study  of  origins,  —  all  these  are  quite 
distinct  from  the  early  ventures  of  the  imagination 
and  the  memory  into  the  domain  of  history.  The 
hesitancy  in  putting  the  stamp  of  equality  upon  the 
new  subject-matter  is  due  in  part  to  the  difficulty  of 
guaranteeing  the  method  of  entrance  into  the  col- 
lege curriculum. 

The  second  difficulty  lies  in  the  tendency  to  di- 
vert the  study  of  the  sciences  to  the  ends  of  utility. 
Utility  is  the  long  and  the  high  end  of  a  vast  deal  of 
the  best  study.  I  find  myself  in  full  accord  with  the 
paper  presented  by  President  Murkland,  —  a  paper 
of  such  insight  and  comprehensiveness  as  an 
academic  audience  has  seldom  the  good  fortune  to 
hear.  It  has  been  the  standing  boast  of  Balliol  Col- 
lege for  years  that  through  its  discipline  in  the 
classics,  mathematics,  and  philosophy,  it  made  the 
rulers  of  India.  But  it  is  quite  possible  to  hurry 
away  after  the  American  fashion  into  practicality. 
The  sciences  seem  to  open  the  easy  road.  The  new 
subject-matter  can  be  used  prematurely  to  that  end 
as  the  old  cannot  be.  But  there  is  no  necessity  for 
this  use  of  it.  I  affirm  its  higher  use.  I  put  it  on 
a  growing  equality  with  the  old  in  all  that  consti- 
tutes the  training  of  a  broadly  educated  man.  I  can 
no  more  conceive  of  an  educated  man  of  to-day  as 
devoid  of  the  scientific  spirit,  or  as  ignorant  of 
the  methods  and  results  of  the  natural  and  physical 


PRESIDENT  TUCKER'S  ADDRESS  1 59 

sciences,  than  I  can  conceive  of  him  as  devoid  of  the 
spirit  of  the  common  humanity,  or  as  ignorant  of 
the  great  historic  forces  which  have  been  at  work 
in  the  life  of  men  or  of  nations.  There  is  a  habit 
of  mind  born  of  the  scientific  spirit  which  is  neces- 
sary to  utility,  but  which  is  not  of  it.  "  There  is 
nothing  so  prolific,"  President  Gilman  of  Johns 
Hopkins  has  said,  *'  There  is  nothing  so  prolific  in 
utilities  as  abstractions."  Or  to  quote  the  more 
spirited  words  of  Cuvier:  — 

"  These  grand  practical  innovations  are  only  the 
easy  applications  of  truths  of  a  superior  order,  not 
sought  with  a  practical  intent,  truths  which  their 
authors  have  pursued  for  their  own  sake,  impelled 
solely  by  an  ardor  for  knowledge.  Those  who  put 
them  in  practice  could  not  have  discovered  them  ; 
those  who  have  discovered  them  had  neither  the 
time  nor  the  inclination  to  pursue  them  to  a  practi- 
cal result.  Absorbed  in  the  higher  regions  whither 
their  contemplations  had  carried  them,  they  had 
hardly  perceived  this  movement,  and  these  crea- 
tions, though  born  of  their  own  words.  These  ris- 
ing workshops,  these  people's  colonies,  these  vessels 
which  furrov/  the  seas,  this  abundance,  this  luxury, 
this  turmoil,  all  this  comes  from  discoverers  in 
science,  and  all  this  remains  strange  to  them. 
The  day  that  a  doctrine  comes  into  practice  they 
abandon  it  to  the  populace;  it  concerns  them  no 
more. " 


l6o  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

I  have  no  time  to  speak  of  the  introduction  of 
what  I  have  termed  the  new  humanities  into  the 
college  curriculum,  further  than  to  say  that  they  have 
brought  in  the  element  of  moral  sensitiveness.  They 
are  not  opposed  to  the  scientific  method  or  spirit, 
but  they  give  what  science  does  not  possess,  —  the 
sense  of  the  human. 

The  only  academic  question  growing  out  of  the 
difficulties  to  which  I  have  referred  is  in  regard  to 
degrees.  Is  the  subject-matter  of  the  college  curricu- 
lum of  to-day  sufficiently  homogeneous  to  warrant 
a  single  degree ;  or  must  we  continue  to  discrimi- 
nate against  the  new  subject-matter  through  new 
degrees?  Different  colleges  would  doubtless  give 
different  answers,  according  to  their  requirements 
for  admission,  according  to  their  facilities  for  work, 
according  to  their  traditions  and  aims,  if  an  immedi- 
ate answer  were  called  for,  but  I  think  that  we  are 
fast  approaching  a  consensus  of  opinion  on  this 
question.  I  believe  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  a  single  degree  will  satisfy  the  work  which 
can  be  legitimately  carried  on  under  the  college 
curriculum. 

The  arrangement  of  the  college  curriculum  under 
the  vast  influx  of  new  material  must  inevitably  be  a 
more  serious  matter  than  the  admission  of  the  mate- 
rial. Practically  it  involves  the  principle  of  electives. 
By  no  possibility  can  all  the  subjects  of  the  curricu- 
lum be  made  subjects  of  study  with  any  attempt  at 


PRESIDENT  TUCKER'S  ADDRESS  l6l 

thoroughness.  There  are  three  methods  of  carrying 
out  the  necessary  process  of  exclusion  ;  first  by  such 
choice  previous  to  entering  college  as  will  reduce 
the  number  of  subjects  which  can  be  taken.  Prep- 
aration for  college  may  be  such  that  one  will  be 
shut  up  to  a  given  course  in  college.  Second,  so 
many  subjects  may  be  required,  and  for  so  long  a 
period,  that  comparatively  few  can  be  elected  for 
continuous  and  advanced  study.  Third,  when  the 
election  is  apparently  free,  subjects  may  be  so  clas- 
sified and  grouped  that  the  choice  is  practically 
conditioned. 

The  principle  of  election  or  rejection  is  so  neces- 
sary a  part  of  the  present  educational  system  that 
the  only  question  really  is,  By  whom  shall  the  elec- 
tion or  rejection  be  made,  —  by  the  college  authori- 
ties, treating  all  alike,  by  departments  naturally 
related  for  support,  or  by  the  individual  student  with 
or  without  advice  ?  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  tend- 
ency is  toward  some  determination  of  choice  rather 
than  away  from  it.  When  unlimited  freedom  ap- 
pears upon  the  surface  there  are  usually  undercur- 
rents which  set  in  definite  directions.  We  are  all 
agreed  that  a  college  education  must  have  two  char- 
acteristics, a  reasonable  breadth  and  thoroughness. 
A  man  is  not  liberally  educated  who  knows  but  one 
thing,  however  well  he  may  know  it,  neither  is  he 
liberally  educated  who  knows  many  things  without 
a  definite  and  certain  knowledge.    Neither  a  narrow 


1 62  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

nor  a  desultory  course  means  going  through  college. 
I  am  disposed  to  think  that  we  ought  to  take  the 
risks  of  breadth  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  profes- 
sional study  which  follows  allows  little  or  no  choice. 
I  am  further  inclined  to  the  use  of  the  elective  prin- 
ciple up  to  the  point  of  its  moral  advantage.  I  have 
seen  too  many  men  saved  intellectually  and  morally 
through  the  working  of  the  principle  to  ignore  or 
distrust  its  moral  power.  As  I  have  elsewhere  said, 
it  is  the  great  intellectual  appeal  which  the  college 
can  make  to  the  individual. 

The  adjustment  of  the  college  curriculum  to  that 
which  goes  before  and  to  that  which  follows  after  has 
suddenly  become  the  most  practical  question  before 
us.  It  takes  the  form,  —  Shall  the  college  course  be 
shortened  to  three  years  ?  The  question  must  be 
answered,  I  take  it,  not  upon  sentimental  but  upon 
educational  grounds;  but  let  us  understand  the  ques- 
tion. If  it  means  that  some  men  can  do  and  ought 
to  be  allowed  to  do  in  three  years  what  other  men 
can  do  only  in  four  years,  very  good.  This  means 
simply  the  arrangement  of  the  college  curriculum  by 
courses  instead  of  by  years.  When  this  is  practica- 
ble so  far  as  the  teaching  force  is  concerned,  and  the 
health  of  the  student  will  allow,  there  is  every  reason 
for  the  change.  If  it  means  that  some  high  schools 
and  academies  can  place  their  students  in  sopho- 
more year  as  well  fitted  as  the  majority  of  schools 
can   place   their  students  in   freshman   year,   very 


PRESIDENT  TUCKER'S  ADDRESS  1 63 

good.  The  example  of  such  schools  is  a  stimulus 
and  incentive  to  high  scholarship.  If  it  means  that 
subjects  ought  to  be  introduced  into  the  senior  year 
which  will  enable  the  graduate  to  make  closer  con- 
nection with  the  professional  school,  very  good.  I 
think  that  many  of  our  colleges  ought  to  have  bet- 
ter terminal  facilities.  There  are  many  subjects 
which  can  be  counted  as  either  academic  or  profes- 
sional. Let  them  have  place  in  the  college  curric- 
ulum. But  if  the  question  means  the  absolute 
shortening  of  the  college  curriculum  by  a  year  at 
the  beginning  or  at  the  end,  then  I  protest  against 
the  reduction  on  educational  grounds.  The  reduc- 
tion cannot  be  called  for  in  the  interest  of  the  higher 
education,  but  rather  in  the  interest  of  some  substi- 
tutes for  the  college  within  the  range  of  the  higher 
education.  The  substitutes  offered  are  the  high 
school  and  the  university.  The  time  saved  must 
go  to  one  or  the  other,  with  the  ultimate  liability  or 
expectation  that  the  whole  time  occupied  by  the 
college  will  be  divided  between  the  two.  My  objec- 
tion to  the  proposed  transfer  of  time  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  substitutes  offered  are  not  substitutes.  The 
high  school  is  local,  the  university  is  special.  The 
college  in  spirit,  in  aim,  and  in  fact  is  national.  It 
brings  together  men  of  many  types  of  mind.  It  edu- 
cates in  part  through  its  constituency.  It  creates 
the  conditions  for  the  best  action  of  mind  upon 
mind.       It   enlarges    the   individual   environment 


1 64  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

And  as  related  to  the  university  the  college  stands, 
for  maturity  before  specialization.  It  demands 
breadth  as  well  as  intensity  of  interest.  It  antici- 
pates those  interests  which  lie  outside  professional 
life  within  the  wide  field  of  citizenship.  If  I  say 
that  it  has  primary  regard  for  the  development  of 
the  man  himself,  I  am  not  uttering  educational  cant, 
but  only  the  very  truth  upon  which  we  all  insist 
when  we  are  not  pleading  for  some  kind  of  special- 
ism. The  college  is  to-day  the  chief  bulwark  against 
the  American  spirit  of  impatience.  There  is  danger 
that  the  university,  as  it  is  beginning  to  be  adminis- 
tered, will  foster  that  spirit.  I  am  convinced  that 
there  is  an  educational  value  in  the  college  idea 
which  we  cannot  afford  to  lose  out  of  our  educa- 
tional system.  There  are  and  can  be  no  substitutes 
for  it,  nor,  as  I  believe,  any  equivalents  for  it.  The 
American  college  embodies  and  preserves  the  best 
traditions  we  have  coming  down  to  us  from  church 
and  state ;  and  it  meets  the  demands  of  the  present 
both  for  defense  and  for  advance.  It  represents  the 
educational  privilege  of  an  increasing  number  to 
whom  the  college  degree  is  the  final  degree.  It  gives 
vitality,  breadth,  freedom,  and,  as  I  believe,  intellec- 
tual security,  to  the  educational  training  of  the  peo- 
ple. We  cannot  afford  to  consider  the  abridgment 
of  its  power. 

I  am  in  favor  of  every  reasonable  adjustment  of 
the  college  curriculum  to  all  other  parts  of  the  edu- 


PRESIDENT  TUCKER'S  ADDRESS  1 65 

cational  system,  but  I  would  yield  nothing  which 
would  affect  its  substantial  integrity. 

Mr.  President  and  Men  of  Middlebury,  —  As  I 
bring  greetings  to  you  personally,  I  pay  tribute  to 
your  work.  I  give  you  the  word  not  only  of  affec- 
tion and  of  honor,  but  of  gratitude.  The  hundred 
years  of  your  history  is  cause  for  profound  and 
far-reaching  thankfulness.  The  men  of  noble  dis- 
tinction, of  high  and  permanent  influence,  whom  you 
have  sent  out  over  the  whole  world,  endorse  and  per- 
petuate the  discipline  which  you  represent.  May 
the  years  and  centuries  before  you  bring  in  their 
own  growth  and  expansion,  and  make  their  own 
adjustment  to  the  demands  of  education,  but  through 
all  changes  and  in  the  midst  of  all  enlargements  may 
you  keep  your  honorable  identity. 


TEMPORIBUS    HOMINIS 
ARPINATIS 

THE  dramatization  of  certain  events  in  the 
momentous  times  of  Cicero  and  his  col- 
leagues in  the  government,  offered  by  the 
Middlebury  students  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday, 
July  4,  the  Educational  Day  of  centennial  week,  was 
not  a  new  feature  in  the  scholastic  life  of  the  College. 
On  the  contrary,  the  presentation  was  the  culmina- 
tion of  three  years  of  effort  to  reproduce,  vjith  some 
accuracy,  not  only  the  sounds  of  the  Latin  tongue 
in  actual  speech  of  men  and  women,  but  also  the 
environment  of  scene  and  background  belonging  to 
life  in  the  old  Roman  city.  Without  this  previous 
experience  it  is  improbable  that  the  elaborate  at- 
tempt would  have  been  made  on  so  important  an 
occasion.  The  story  of  the  beginnings  of  dramatic 
venture  in  this  field,  the  first  guesses  at  costuming, 
the  cutting  and  recutting  of  various  material  in  the 
trial  for  the  right  fabric,  the  making  of  musical  in- 
struments and  stage  furniture,  the  search  for  a  com- 
petent artist  to  paint  the  large  amount  of  scenery 
necessary,  would  fill  a  volume,  and  but  the  briefest 
record  may  here  be  given. 
i66 


TEMPORIBUS   HOMINIS  ARPINATIS  1 67 

The  Class  of  1900  were  asked  to  read  antipho- 
nally  an  ode  of  Horace  in  illustration  of  the  rhythm 
and  cadence  of  Latin  poetry,  before  a  convention 
of  Latin  teachers  to  be  held  at  the  College  on 
March  8,  1898.  The  practice  of  this  reading  in 
the  class-room  led  to  the  question  of  a  musical  ren- 
dering. When  this  had  been  attempted,  and  decided 
to  be  not  too  venturesome,  the  need  of  some  imita- 
tion of  the  ancient  accompaniment  of  pipes  was  too 
obvious  to  be  neglected,  and  there  followed  the  trial 
of  various  instruments  until  those  were  found  which 
seemed  to  give  the  true  effect.  Each  successive 
rehearsal  now  encouraged  the  participants  to  believe 
that  they  were  imitating,  a  little  more  closely  than 
before,  chorus  singing  not  entirely  unlike  that  to 
which  Cicero  or  Horace  may  often  have  listened. 
As  the  work  went  on,  there  grew,  not  unnaturally, 
a  feeling  for  accuracy  in  all  details  of  the  venture, 
for  venture  it  still  seemed.  Nor  is  it  strange  that, 
having  advanced  thus  far  toward  the  ideal,  there 
should  now  be  regret  at  the  presence  of  an  in- 
harmonious feature,  namely,  the  modern  garments 
which  they  wore,  and  which  were  characterized  by 
the  members  as  an  anachronism  and  out  of  tune 
with  the  musical  effect  that  they  were  trying  to 
produce.  Although  the  suggestion  of  tunica  and 
toga  was  too  bold  a  solution  of  the  difficulty  to  meet 
with  entire  favor  at  the  outset,  a  few  of  the  number 
began  to  experiment  with  drapery.     The  not  un- 


1 68  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

graceful  results  of  even  the  first  attempts  were  too 
fascinating  to  be  abandoned.  Little  by  little,  when 
a  number  of  trials  showed  more  or  less  success  in 
making  and  wearing  the  garments,  and  the  cos- 
tumes assumed  more  and  more  the  look  and  fold 
of  tunica  and  toga,  the  doubtful  ones  were  per- 
suaded, until  at  last  the  entire  chorus  committed 
itself  to  this  final  cast.  The  donning  of  Caius's 
toga  and  Caia's  tunica  seemed  to  complete  the 
illusion ;  and  when,  after  repeated  changes  of  score 
and  costume,  the  evening  of  the  rendering  had  at 
last  come,  the  forgetfulness  of  self  and  of  the  audi- 
ence, in  sympathy  with  the  ancient  role  assumed 
was  so  genuinely  felt  and  so  clearly  shown  as  to 
impress  the  audience  with  remarkable  power. 

At  a  second  meeting  of  the  Latin  teachers,  one 
year  later,  a  bolder  design  was  formed.  The  Latin 
department  arranged  a  drama  of  certain  events  in 
the  life  of  Cicero  which  centered  about  the  con- 
spiracy of  Catiline,  basing  the  text  upon  the  letters 
and  orations  of  Cicero  and  the  histories  of  Sallust 
and  Plutarch.  It  was,  of  course,  venturesome  to 
assign  to  the  eloquent  consul,  and  to  others,  expres- 
sions which  they  may  never  have  used.  Yet  the 
utmost  care  was  taken,  in  connecting  the  well- 
known  passages  from  the  various  authors,  that  there 
should  be  no  sentiments  assigned  to  the  speaker 
other  than  those  which  he  was  known  from  actual 
history  to  have  uttered. 


TEMPORIBUS   HOMINIS  ARPINATIS  169 

Since  no  room  in  any  of  the  college  buildings 
was  of  sufficient  size,  or  suited  in  other  ways,  for  the 
production  of  the  drama,  it  was  necessary  to  secure 
the  town  hall.  Here,  again,  difficulty  arose  be- 
cause of  the  limited  accommodations  for  the  actors. 
But  a  skilful  hand  was  found  to  temporarily  enlarge 
and  adapt  the  stage  to  new  requirements,  though 
this  lessened  the  seating  capacity  of  the  room.  Nor 
were  there  in  the  stage  furnishings  fixtures  which 
could  be  used  in  this  Roman  setting.  Tables,  curule 
chairs,  lamps,  altars,  and  other  accessories  must  all 
be  made  for  the  occasion,  and  as  there  were  no  pat- 
terns available,  much  time  and  labor  were  neces- 
sarily required  to  produce  all  that  was  demanded  by 
the  presentation. 

A  more  serious  question  was  the  scenery.  Here 
the  College  was  fortunate  beyond  all  expectation. 
Mr.  Charles  Witham,  whose  unrivaled  paintings 
for  the  Roman  plays  of  Booth  and  Barrett  had 
given  fame  years  since,  was  persuaded  to  visit  Mid- 
dlebury  to  consider  the  possibilities  of  the  stage, 
and  to  offer  judgment  regarding  the  paintings 
needful.  After  careful  estimate,  although  his  ser- 
vices were  in  continual  demand  in  larger  fields,  he 
was  influenced  to  undertake  the  labor  of  the  deco- 
ration. Though  unable  to  show  fully  his  wonderful 
skill  under  the  limitations  of  the  hall,  he  generously 
contributed  more  of  his  time  and  talent  than  could 
have  been  expected,  that  he  might  fully  harmonize 


I70  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

the  scenic  effects  with  the  needs  of  the  production. 
To  him  is  due  much  of  the  success  of  the  entertain- 
ment. Since  the  language  spoken  was  strange  to 
many  in  the  audience,  plainly  no  inconsiderable 
part  of  the  effect  must  be  supplied  by  the  scenery. 
The  magic  of  Mr.  Witham's  brush  seemed  to  defy 
all  limit  as  he  wrought  out  upon  the  canvas  temple, 
column,  atrium,  and  street.  The  amazement  of 
the  audience,  as  the  parting  curtains  revealed  the 
temple  of  Jupiter,  the  Forum,  and  the  brilliant 
house  interior,  was  not  the  least  interesting  feature 
of  the  evening's  entertainment.  The  delusion  of  the 
perspective  was  so  great  in  some  instances  that  it 
seemed  impossible  that  the  stage  had  not  been 
extended  beyond  the  limit  of  the  building.  The 
remarkable  sympathy  of  the  actors  with  the  parts 
which  they  had  assumed,  the  graceful  costumes,  and 
the  perspective  in  the  various  scenes,  caused  the 
Latin  teachers  to  feel  that  the  representation  was 
of  great  educational  value  in  thus  vividly  portraying 
the  life  and  ways  of  ancient  Rome. 

The  entire  arrangement  of  parts  had  been  dis- 
tributed among  sixty-five  students,  and  occupied  in 
the  rendering  nearly  three  hours.  The  employ- 
ment of  so  many  in  rehearsals  and  upon  special 
committees  was  necessarily  something  of  a  hin- 
drance to  other  departments  of  the  college  work. 
Yet  not  only  did  the  various  members  of  the  Fac- 
ulty freely  overlook  whatever  embarrassment  arose 


TEMPORIBUS  HOMINIS  ARPINATIS  171 

from  this  cause,  but  some  gave  unsparingly  of  their 
time  that  the  essay  might  bring  honor  to  the  Col- 
lege. The  drilling  of  the  choruses  and  assistance 
in  the  making  of  the  libretto  which  was  published 
in  connection  with  the  drama  were  instances  of 
this  generous  service.  To  the  encouragement  and 
financial  aid  of  the  senior  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  Governor  John  W.  Stewart,  was  due  the 
possibility  of  much  elaboration  in  the  details  which 
otherwise  must  have  been  omitted. 

The  vote  of  the  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  in  June, 
1899,  ^^^t  th^  drama  should  be  repeated  during  the 
centennial  exercises,  brought  the  Latin  department 
face  to  face  with  a  number  of  serious  problems.  Two 
seemed  difficult  of  adjustment.  First,  so  many  and 
imperative  are  the  demands  of  the  commencement 
season,  particularly  in  the  case  of  a  graduating  class, 
that  great  embarrassment  would  be  experienced  in 
trying  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  the  students. 
If  the  obligations  were  burdensome  at  the  usual 
Commencement,  it  was  feared  that,  at  the  impor- 
tant anniversary  approaching,  the  part  assigned  the 
undergraduates  might  be  too  great  for  fulfilment. 
The  result  showed  that  the  apprehension  was  not 
needlessly  entertained.  Another  difficult  question 
was  the  place  of  presentation.  The  necessity  of  a 
specially  erected  building  for  the  drama  was  early 
recognized  by  those  most  interested  in  the  under- 
taking,   but  so   many   were   the    duties   crowding 


172  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

upon  the  department,  that  there  naturally  was  hesi- 
tation to  add  a  feature  involving  so  much  additional 
thought  and  expense.  Late  in  the  year  —  too  late 
for  the  most  successful  completion  —  the  need  of 
such  a  building  was  seen  to  be  imperative  if  ade- 
quate accommodations  were  to  be  provided.  A 
larger  stage  than  the  limited  one  in  the  hall  used  in 
the  previous  year  was  also  desirable  to  perfect  the 
dramatization. 

The  proportions  of  the  Centennial  Building — for 
such  was  the  name  given  to  this  improvised  theatre 
—  were  a  fortunate  guess,  rather  than  measurements 
from  any  other  structure.  The  dimensions  were  one 
hundred  and  forty-five  feet  by  sixty,  and  the  floor 
space  within  was  divided  laterally  into  an  audience 
room  of  eighty  feet,  a  stage  of  thirty  feet,  and  dress- 
ing rooms,  in  the  rear,  of  thirty-five  feet.  The  height 
was  twenty  and  one-half  feet  to  the  eaves  and  thirty 
to  the  ridge.  The  roof  was  of  a  single  span  in  order 
that  no  obstacle  of  even  the  slightest  nature  might 
be  interposed  to  the  view.  Every  precaution  was 
taken  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  audience.  The 
floor  was  doubly  strengthened,  and  emergency  doors 
were  cut  at  the  middle  of  each  side,  while  four  large 
doors  for  entrance  and  exit  opened  upon  a  generous 
porch  at  the  front.  About  nine  hundred  sittings 
were  provided,  but  at  the  last,  as  the  accommoda- 
tion was  seen  to  be  insufficient,  a  gallery  was  con- 
structed across  the  front  of  the  building  which  would 


TEMPORIBUS   HOMINIS  ARPINATIS  173 

seat  one  hundred  and  twenty  more.  Even  with  this 
addition,  every  seat  was  sold  before  July  4,  and  the 
committee  were  reluctantly  obliged  to  return  unful- 
filled the  late  orders  for  tickets.  A  unique  feature 
of  the  audience  room  was  an  inclined  floor  so  sup- 
ported that  it  could  be  brought  to  a  horizontal 
without  interference  with  other  parts  of  the  build- 
ing. Through  this  device  the  floor  was  leveled  by 
morning  and  in  readiness  for  the  luncheon  of  the 
Centennial  Day.  The  roughness  of  the  exterior 
was  somewhat  concealed  by  hangings  of  bunting, 
while  the  interior  was  beautifully  decorated  with  soft 
Pompeian  browns  and  blues  in  harmony  with  the 
paintings  and  curtains  of  the  stage. 

It  was  a  matter  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  the 
delay  of  the  contractor  in  completing  the  building 
should  interfere  with  the  rehearsals  of  the  few  weeks 
immediately  preceding  the  presentation;  but  the 
patience  and  loyalty  of  the  students  overcame  even 
this,  the  most  serious  of  all  hindrances  that  threat- 
ened at  times  to  seriously  mar  the  success  which 
had  been  hoped.  All  the  rehearsals  took  place  on 
an  unfinished  stage,  with  scaffolding,  half-colored 
canvas,  lumber  of  all  description,  and  carpenters' 
equipment  scattered  in  utmost  confusion,  while  the 
directions  of  the  painter  and  the  hammering  of  the 
laborers  wearied  and  discouraged  the  actors. 

By  the  greatest  good  fortune,  the  member  of  the 
Faculty  in  charge  of  the  music  of  the  Centennial 


174  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

possessed  unfailing  patience,  and,  in  spite  of  every 
hindrance,  led  the  chorus  singing  to  a  harmonious 
end,  almost  bringing  the  hammer  strokes  of  the  car- 
penters into  unison  beats  with  the  antique  measures. 
Nor  was  there  less  good  fortune  in  the  use  of  the 
former  skilful  hand,  at  whose  inventive  touch  the 
continually  arising  difficulties  of  stage  arrange- 
ment disappeared.  Yet,  in  spite  of  every  effort, 
Wednesday  evening  overtook  the  drama  still  in 
the  throes  of  preparation.  No  brief  reference 
can  convey  an  adequate  picture  of  the  confused 
condition  of  the  undertaking  even  to  the  opening 
of  the  doors. 

The  evening  was  fair.  Long  before  eight  o'clock 
a  continuous  line  of  carriages  crowded  the  roadway 
to  the  entrances,  and  by  a  few  minutes  past  the 
hour  the  largest  audience  that  ever  gathered  under 
a  roof  in  Middlebury  had  found  seats  in  the  com- 
fortable chairs  provided. 

The  first  scene  was  devised  to  serve  as  a  fitting 
introduction  to  all  that  followed.  In  the  dimly 
lighted  nave  of  a  temple,  whose  pillars  faded  far 
into  the  darkness,  stood  a  statue  of  Apollo,  while 
there  solemnly  advanced  in  the  half  light  a  score  of 
suppliants  chanting  the  Greek  words  of  one  of  the 
old  invocation  hymns.  The  music  swelled  through 
gentle  supplication  to  more  earnest  prayer  to  the 
gods,  and  then  died  away  in  lingering  and  plaintive 
appeal. 


TEMPORIBUS   HOMINIS  ARPINATIS  1 75 

Practised  helpers  swiftly  readjusted  the  stage  when 
the  curtains  had  shut  out  the  stately  processional, 
and  there  then  appeared  a  representation  of  the 
interior  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator,  arranged 
as  a  meeting  place  for  the  Roman  senate.  In  the 
apse  of  a  temple  which  seemed  to  reach  away  in- 
definitely in  receding  columns  beyond  the  marble 
seats,  and  which  was  by  some  regarded  as  the 
masterpiece  of  all  the  artist's  work,  there  stood 
the  imposing  form  of  the  god.  The  scene  when 
the  senators  file  into  their  seats,  then  rise  as  Cicero 
appears,  while  from  a  side  aisle  Catiline  also  ad- 
vances to  his  place,  made  one  wonder  momentarily 
whether  these  stately  moving  forms  in  classic  dra- 
pery were  not  the  real  rulers  of  the  world  by  some 
chance  revivified  for  a  brief  hour.  The  passing  over 
of  the  senators,  the  startled  looks  which  are  turned  to 
Cicero,  who,  in  composure  and  yet  in  wrath,  regards 
his  defiant  adversary,  the  bursting  forth  of  the  fire 
of  invective  no  longer  able  to  be  controlled,  in  that 
masterpiece  of  oratory  which  has  thrilled  so  many 
students  of  Cicero  in  the  years  which  have  since 
come  and  gone,  lacked  in  the  presentation  nothing 
which  the  actors  were  able  to  supply.  As  the  words 
of  their  chief  ring  out  in  accusation,  the  senators, 
that  they  may  play  well  their  part,  pretend,  in  face 
and  in  gesture,  amazement  and  fear;  but  as  pres- 
ently the  passion  of  the  charge  burns  to  the  soul  of 
the  now  cringing  conspirator,  both  players  and  au- 


176  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

dience  forget  that  the  action  is  but  feigned.  Rarely 
can  it  have  happened  that  one  speaking  Cicero's 
words  after  him  has  so  interpreted  his  thought  to 
others  as  did  the  impersonator  in  this  evening's 
drama.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  and  not  un- 
worthy of  being  here  recorded,  that  during  the 
progress  of  the  rehearsals,  the  magnitude  of  this 
part,  and  the  reality  of  the  transfer  to  a  Roman 
world  and  time,  at  first  almost  prevented,  though 
it  finally  inspired,  the  action.  The  absolute  loss 
of  self  in  invective,  in  entreaty,  in  dignified  argu- 
ment, in  the  lighter  tone  of  the  home  scenes,  in 
solemn  appeal  to  the  gods,  was  everywhere  a  remark- 
able achievement,  and  plainly  unattainable  to  one 
who  had  not  by  much  study  entered  deeply  into  the 
life  and  spirit  of  the  consul. 

As  the  great  orator  finished  with  words  of 
appeal  to  the  deity  sitting  majestically  above  the 
assembly,  Catiline,  who  had  now  shown,  now  re- 
pressed, the  emotions  having  play  within  him,  dis- 
sembling humility  and  injury  in  both  speech  and 
attitude,  rose  to  make  defence.  His  words  — 
they  are  written  in  Sallust  —  were  few  before  some 
of  the  senators  cry,  "parricida,"  "prodltor,"  and 
"impietas."  Wilder  and  wilder  grows  the  scene, 
until,  in  a  final  outburst,  a  threat  of  vengeance, 
the  haughty  nobleman  flings  himself  from  the 
assembly  now  ringing  with  the  angry  interruptions 
of  his  colleag:ues. 


TEMPORIBUS   HOMINIS   ARPINATIS  1 77 

The  citizens  pass  to  and  fro  with  banter  and  jest, 
in  the  next  scene,  until  the  consul  appears  to  for- 
mally announce  the  flight  of  Catiline.  The  place 
is,  of  course,  the  Forum.  The  background  used  was 
an  adaptation  of  Bauernfeld's  painting,  which  looks 
up  the  Via  Sacra,  past  the  shrine  of  Castor  and 
Pollux  and  the  Basilica  to  the  temples  of  Saturn 
and  Concord,  with  the  arx  of  the  Capitoline  showing 
in  the  distance.  It  seemed  to  extend  to  impossible 
limits,  not  only  because  of  the  perspective,  but  by 
reason  of  ingenious  lighting. 

There  now  followed  the  longest  scene  of  the 
drama,  the  trial  of  the  conspirators,  and  the  one 
which  best  illustrated  the  troublous  times  through 
which  the  consul  was  endeavoring  to  lead  the  state. 
The  rolling  of  the  curtains  shows  the  senators  com- 
ing through  the  aisles  and  passages  to  their  seats  in 
the  temple  of  Concord.  After  vows  to  the  gods, 
under  the  direction  of  the  pontifex  maximus,  at  the 
altar,  from  which  the  smoke  of  incense  rises,  Cicero 
lays  briefly  before  the  senate  the  story  of  the  arrest 
of  the  conspirators  at  the  Mulvian  bridge  on  the 
previous  night.  Volturcius,  who  it  is  hoped  will 
turn  state's  evidence,  is  brought  in.  With  most 
admirable  skill  the  consul  seeks  to  draw  from  the 
unwilling  man  the  details  of  the  plot.  It  is  a  des- 
perate venture  and  hope.  Not  only  is  the  conspir- 
ator on  trial,  but  as  well  the  "  novus  homo,"  before 
his  critical  and  haughty  colleagues,  many  of  whom, 


178  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

through  various  motives,  would  be  gratified  should 
the  evidence  be  insufficient  to  prove  the  case.  If 
the  consul  fails  to  convince  the  majority  of  the 
still  doubting  nobility,  his  little  prestige  is  lost  and 
his  dearly  bought  power  gone.  Skilfully  does  he 
attack  and  powerfully  plead  with  the  wary  con- 
spirator. At  first  the  issue  seems  doubtful,  but 
the  torrential  words,  now  fierce-edged  with  sarcasm, 
now  persuasive  of  loyalty,  are  at  least  irresistible; 
they  compel  compliance,  and  the  consul  turns  in  a 
burst  of  triumph  to  the  circle  and  reads  in  their 
faces  that  he  has  won. 

But  the  victory  is  not  yet  complete.  Cicero 
well  knows  that  the  evidence  is  still  too  slight 
to  break  an  opposition  so  powerful,  and  the  ex- 
amination proceeds,  though  the  tone  of  the  charge 
is  changed  in  surety  of  the  outcome.  The  two 
Gallic  chiefs  enter  and  tell  their  story.  Cethegus, 
introduced,  at  first  makes  light  of  the  accusation, 
then  storms  defiance  and  denial  until  silenced 
by  the  reading  of  an  intercepted  letter.  Statilius 
and  Gabinius  are  easier  marks.  The  climax  of 
the  scene  is  the  introduction  of  Lentulus,  the 
praetor,  in  the  rich  robe  of  his  office.  The  sena- 
tors start  from  their  seats  in  amazement  It  was 
evident  that  their  consul  was  playing  at  a  desperate 
game.  Plain,  too,  was  it  that  he  would  win  or  lose 
all  with  the  success  or  failure  of  this  final  thrust  in 
the  conflict  with  a  dissolute  nobility.      Lentulus, 


TEMPORIBUS   HOMINIS   ARPINATIS  1 79 

haughty  with  dignity  and  with  contempt  for  the 
proceedings,  is  yet  forced  to  acknowledge  the  seal 
of  an  unopened  letter  addressed  to  the  Gallic  chiefs. 
Flaccus,  his  colleague  in  office,  breaks  the  wax  and 
reads  the  fatal  words  of  betrayal  of  trust.  The  mag- 
nificent power  of  the  consul  is  seen  in  the  eloquence 
which  slowly  breaks  down  the  haughty  defiance  of 
the  nobleman.  From  pride  he  is  driven  to  anger, 
from  anger  to  embarrassment,  then  to  confusion 
and  falsification,  until  at  last,  in  the  very  abjectness 
of  shame,  he  confesses  his  guilt.  Then  follows  the 
solemn  ceremony  of  putting  off  the  robe  of  state 
that  impiety  may  not  be  shown  in  the  punishment 
of  one  made  sacred  in  person  because  of  his  office. 
In  the  hush  which  has  fallen  upon  actors  and  audi- 
ence alike,  Silenus,  the  consul  elect,  moves  that  a 
thanksgiving  be  offered  the  immortal  gods  because 
of  the  deliverance  of  the  city  and  the  citizens  from 
the  threatened  danger. 

After  a  brief  scene  showing  Cicero  in  his  home, 
the  senate  is  again  disclosed  in  deliberation.  What 
punishment  shall  befall  the  conspirators  .^^  Caesar 
and  Cato  lead  the  opposite  opinions,  but  the  division 
of  the  house,  made  as  the  curtains  roll  together, 
shows  that  the  majority  are  with  Cato  for  the  pen- 
alty of  death. 

The  days  of  the  consulship  of  Cicero  are  now 
over.  Again  the  Forum  is  filled  with  moving  forms. 
Flaccus,  the  praetor,  and  a  number  of  citizens  discuss 


l8o  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

the  rumor  that  Cicero  is  to  be  prevented  from  publicly 
recounting  his  official  acts.  The  rumor  is  not  un- 
founded. As  the  consul  appears  and  begins  his 
address  to  the  people,  the  tribune  Marcellus  formally 
forbids  the  justification  of  his  year  of  leadership. 
He  may  not  disobey.  But  he  makes  the  recourse 
allowed  him  as  powerful  as  an  oration.  In  the 
silence  that  falls  on  the  patricians  and  plebeians  be- 
fore him  he  solemnly  makes  oath  that  he  has  saved 
the  state.     But  the  shadow  of  exile  is  falling. 

Once  more,  a  few  scenes  later,  he  appears,  but 
now  in  triumph.  It  was  thought  not  unfitting  that 
the  last  sight  of  the  consul  should  be  in  illustration 
of  his  own  words,  "  When  they  had  made  known  to 
me  their  congratulation  in  loudest  cheers,  with 
thronging  and  with  shouts  they  attended  me  even  to 
the  Capitoline,  and  both  in  the  Forum  and  on  the 
Capitoline  itself  there  was  an  astounding  multitude." 

The  heavier  parts  of  the  drama  were  alternated 
by  Forum  and  house  views  in  which,  against  the 
brilliantly  colored  hangings,  the  drapery  of  the 
moving  figures  was  peculiarly  effective.  Of  all  these 
eleven  scenes,  it  is  not  easy  to  say  with  which  the 
audience  were  most  pleased.  The  admirable  imper- 
sonation of  Terentia  and  Tullia  in  the  home  of 
Quintus  Cicero  and  Pomponia,  when  there  seemed 
to  return  to  us  the  real  Romans  of  the  Letters  in 
the  stateliness  and  grace  with  which  in  thought  we 
clothe  them,  or  that  glimpse  of  Cicero's  house,  with 


TEMPORIBUS   HOMINIS   ARPINATIS  l8l 

the  singing  of  Publilia  to  soothe  the  wearied  consul 
after  the  fatigue  of  the  trial,  proved,  to  some,  the 
most  typically  Roman  scenes ;  to,  others,  the  Vestals 
formed  the  most  beautiful  grouping  of  the  evening ; 
some  were  particularly  pleased  with  the  choruses  at 
the  close ;  while  others,  again,  preferred  the  strong 
forensic  element,  rather  than  the  lighter  scenes,  or 
foils,  however  brilliant  they  may  have  been. 

In  this  drama  of  Roman  life,  as  in  the  two  presen- 
tations out  of  which  it  grew,  there  was  made  promi- 
nent in  every  feature  the  thought  that  the  portrayal 
must  be  accurate,  whatever  the  toil  involved.  The 
end  must  be  educational  rather  than  entertaining. 
Happily  the  former  aim,  in  nearly  all  of  the  details, 
insured  the  latter  result.  But  it  continually  hap- 
pened, particularly  in  the  selection  and  arrangement 
of  individual  costumes,  that  many  fell  by  the  way 
into  the  temptation  to  adapt  some  small  detail  —  it 
might  be  the  cut  of  a  sandal  or  a  cunningly  devised 
fold  of  the  palla  —  according  to  some  preconceived 
idea,  or  a  sense  of  what  was  personally  becoming, 
rather  than  to  the  exact  pattern  of  some  classic  model. 
Yet,  whenever  inaccuracy  was  pointed  out,  the  schol- 
arly enthusiasm  of  the  participants  always  led  them 
to  the  rejection  of  every  gloss  and  false  effect.  It  was, 
therefore,  gratifying  that  there  were  present  so  large 
a  number  of  educators  from  both  the  school  and  col- 
lege field,  since  it  was  believed  that,  notwithstanding 
the  impossibility  of  adequate  rehearsals,  and  a  con- 


1 82  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

sequent  loss  of  that  last  refining  touch  which  is  oft- 
times  so  effective,  the  life  passing  to  and  fro  before 
this  critical  audience  did  not  far  belie  its  prototype. 
The  picture,  now  hurrying,  now  loitering,  across  the 
brilliant  background,  from  the  simple  toga  of  a  citizen 
to  the  elaborate  folds  that  clad  the  stately  Vestalis 
Maxima,  was  Roman  in  all  its  dignity  and  beauty. 

To  the  question  whether  the  end  so  earnestly 
sought,  a  true  glimpse  of  the  life  under  that  old 
civilization  which  has  entered  into  and  moulded  all 
subsequent  history,  was  realized,  there  came  answer 
in  many  forms.  Words  written  a  few  days  later  by 
one  of  the  most  honored  guests  are  offered  —  it  is 
hoped  not  unfairly  —  as  typical  of  a  general  impres- 
sion. "  There  was  no  one  thing  in  the  entire  cen- 
tennial exercises  which  made  so  profound  impression 
on  me.  The  whole  thing  seemed  to  be  so  adapted 
to  the  College  and  to  the  occasion.  For  students  to 
take  part  in  such  an  exercise  as  that,  is  worth  in  the 
study  of  Latin,  in  my  judgment,  all  that  I  received 
in  my  college  course." 

To  have  made  real  for  a  few  hours  that  old  world 
of  nineteen  centuries  ago,  from  which  we  derive  so 
much  that  is  strong  and  true  in  our  own  domain, 
was,  surely,  in  the  elaborate  programme  offered  by 
the  College  at  her  turning  of  the  years,  no  unworthy 
ideal  of  student  contribution.  To  their  scholarly 
toil  and  patient,  self-denying  help  belong  unstinted 
honor  and  praise. 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION 

By  professor   WALTER  E.   HOWARD 

THE  history  of  humanity  is  the  record  of  a 
struggle.  The  aggregate  achievement  of 
mankind  is  the  measure  of  it.  The  ulti- 
mate hope  of  the  race  rests  in  the  future,  as  it  has 
rested  since  that  far  time  when  the  haggard  earth 
fled  through  the  midnight  of  unthinkable  space  — 
it  rests  in  the  initial  impulse  of  that  creative  mind 
which  bounded  the  first  day  by  a  rosy  dawn  and  a 
golden  sunset.  For  before  the  sunrise  God  was, 
after  the  sunset  God  will  be,  —  the  first  Great  Cause 
in  that  infinite  series  whose  final  term  is  the  im- 
measurable possibilities  of  the  human  soul.  Educa- 
tion began  with  the  dawn,  and  the  earth  was  led  out 
of  darkness  into  light,  out  of  cold  and  horror  into 
warmth  and  beauty,  out  of  chaos  into  order,  out  of 
death  and  despair  into  love  and  life. 

A  low-browed,  lurching  creature  looking  on  the 
ground  and  muttering  with  his  lips,  —  brute-eyed, 
savage,  shaggy,  with  incoherent  cries  beating  the 
air,  snarling  at  his  food,  —  the  savage  prototype  of 
him  who  was  to  come.  A  wide-browed  man,  clear- 
eyed,  clothed,  serene,  self-poised,  doing  justice  and 
183 


1 84  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

judgment,  with  wisdom  and  calm  speech,  from  a 
written  law.  And  this  is  the  educated  grandson  of 
the  naked  savage  with  the  brutal  brow. 

A  wilderness  untrod,  with  mountains  unclimbed 
and  streams  unvexed,  a  forest  primeval,  teeming 
with  wild  and  lawless  life,  —  that  was  our  father's 
welcome  home.  A  land  that  blossoms  like  the 
rose,  —  that  is  the  son's  inheritance. 

The  earth  swings  on,  and  Time  fills  up  his  over- 
flowing hands  with  dropping  years.  Man,  the  son 
of  God  and  heir  of  all  the  ages,  stands  upon  the 
uplands  of  the  world  clad  with  glory  and  honor. 
"  Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the 
works  of  thy  hand,  thou  hast  put  all  things  under 
his  feet." 

The  education  of  humanity  that  some  men  call 
its  evolution,  is  God's  thought  for  man  and  man's 
work  for  God.  The  part  that  man,  with  fear  and 
hope,  has  wrought  in  his  own  salvation,  is  the 
greatest  glory  of  the  human  race.  The  part  the 
English  man  has  borne  in  that  gigantic  conquest 
of  himself  is  the  greatest  glory  of  the  English  race. 
But  education  is  more  than  learning  to  read,  and 
more  than  one  factor  has  entered  into  the  evolution 
of  the  race.  The  cloistered  monks  of  Canterbury 
did  their  part  with  pen  and  page ;  the  English 
barons  dug  liberty  into  England's  soil  with  battle- 
axe  and  sword;  the  gray  old  colleges  beside  the 
Isis  and  the  Cam  poured  out  their  streams  of  learn- 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  185 

ing  to  refresh  the  world ;  and  grim  Cromwell  taught 
freedom  of  conscience  with  the  headsman's  axe.  We 
are  heirs  of  England's  law  and  learning,  —  children 
of  them  that  reared  Oxford  and  Cambridge;  sons 
of  them  who  built  Westminster  Abbey  and  fill  its 
tombs.  But  of  all  the  wealth  of  brawn  and  brain 
that  we  are  heir  to,  there  has  never  been  a  legacy 
so  rich  as  the  love  of  learning  and  the  love  of  books 
that  Young  England  inherited  from  Old  England 
three  hundred  years  ago.  The  men  who  made  New 
England  built  it  by  the  Book.  Seeking  a  home 
in  the  wilderness,  they  chose  its  site  fast  by  the 
oracles  of  God ;  knowing  they  had  no  continuing 
city,  they  yet  built  upon  a  rock.  Lifting  their  eyes 
unto  Heaven,  "  their  dearest  country,"  they  were 
not  unmindful  of  the  true  foundation  of  an  earthly 
state. 

To  rightly  tell  the  story  of  this  College,  one  must 
also  tell  the  story  of  the  times  in  which  it  grew,  and 
the  men  who  made  the  times.  The  men  who  settled 
this  valley  and  established  this  College,  a  hundred 
years  ago,  were  sons  of  the  Puritans  —  were  Puritans 
themselves.  In  the  interval  between  that  unfor- 
gotten,  bleak  December  day  when  the  Mayflower 
with  its  cargo  of  immortals  fluttered  into  Plymouth 
Bay  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
many  changes  had  come  about.  We  miss  from  the 
men  of  1800  much  that  makes  the  men  of  1600  so 
unique.     The  earlier  men  were  the  product  of  their 


1 86  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

time.  They  were  stern  because  life  was  real.  They 
were  solemn  because  death  was  sure.  They  prayed 
with  their  backs  to  the  wall  that  they  might  meet 
their  enemies  face  to  face.  They  feared  God  and 
Him  only.  They  were  reserved  because  they  had 
been  set  apart.  They  were  just  because  Justice  is 
an  attribute  of  God.  They  were  unemotional 
because  they  had  no  nerves.  They  were  honest 
because  they  hated  a  lie. 

The  men  of  1800  inherited  their  fathers'  virtues 
and  acquired  some  for  themselves.  Conditions  had 
changed  —  character  stood  fast.  The  old  world 
had  slipped  away.  The  new  world  was  the  only 
world  these  later  Puritans  had  ever  known.  These 
men  had  never  felt  the  shadow  of  a  King  fall  on 
them  as  they  prayed.  They  had  not  cut  the  leaves 
of  their  Bible  with  a  sword.  They  had  not  been 
born  under  a  leaden  sky  or  in  an  iron  age.  They 
had  seen  the  glory  of  a  sunrise  in  a  new  world.  The 
trackless  forests,  the  majestic  mountains,  and  the 
rolling  streams  not  only  broadened  their  minds  with 
lessons  of  wonderful  opportunity  in  their  present 
lives,  but  stimulated  their  imaginations  with  visions 
of  matchless  possibilities  in  the  years  to  come.  The 
grim  severity  of  the  older  Puritans  had  borne  in 
them  the  sweeter  fruitage  of  a  calm  and  sober  life, 
and  yet  at  no  expense  of  taste  or  fibre.  The  times 
had  not  yet  set  themselves  to  the  easy  life  that  saps 
vigor  and  rots  manhood.     The  Puritans  of  a  hun- 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  187 

dred  years  ago  had  themselves  felt  the  weariness  of 
great  tasks  and  the  exaltation  of  great  victories  of 
peace  and  war.  To  grapple  with  savage  nature,  to 
subdue  the  forests,  and  to  grub  the  fields,  to  wrestle 
with  the  oak  and  throw  him,  —  that  was  the  work 
these  later  Puritans  had  to  do  in  this  new  New 
England.  And  they  did  it  well.  No  servile  race 
was  here  to  do  their  bidding,  but  all  alone,  father 
and  stalwart  sons,  in  sweat  and  grime,  subdued  the 
crocky  fields,  and  laid  the  sleepers  of  both  home  and 
state.  Their  hands  grew  large  and  wholesome,  their 
joints  big  and  ugly,  for  their  work  was  hard  and 
endless ;  but  they  also  lifted  hands  of  faith  to 
Heaven.  We  reap  the  fruit  of  their  toil  and  sacri- 
fice, but  let  it  not  be  said  with  thankless  hearts  or 
grudging  words. 

Nor  was  this  all.  These,  too,  had  been  embat- 
tled farmers  and  the  hands  that  swung  the  sickle  had 
also  held  the  reaping  hook  of  war.  Ticonderoga 
was  just  three  weeks  from  Lexington,  and  Hubbard- 
4:on  and  Bennington  and  Saratoga  had  proved  the 
valor  of  simple  farmers  fighting  for  their  homes. 
The  trying  times  before  and  after  the  Revolution, 
when  Vermont  was  mistress  of  herself  alone,  and  the 
men  of  Vermont  were  learning  the  lessons  of  self- 
government  in  the  school  of  a  wilderness,  developed 
in  the  men  of  this  valley  a  strength  of  character  and 
a  force  of  will  and  self-reliance  that  have  never  been 
surpassed.     And  they  had  not  outgrown  the  Bible. 


1 88  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

Before  the  sunrise  God  was,  after  the  sunset  God 
would  be,  —  and  upon  that  rock  they  built  a  church 
that  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against; 
and  upon  that  rock  they  reared  a  state  that  shall 
endure  till  men  forget. 

The  belief  in  a  real  God,  —  not  an  intellectual 
abstraction,  —  a  God  that  saw  their  toll  and  heard 
their  prayers,  a  God  that  loved  good  and  hated 
sin,  a  God  that  in  the  beginning  created  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  and  had  never  abdicated  nor 
been  dethroned,  a  God  that  ruled  the  world  and 
was  yet  a  very  present  help  in  time  of  trouble,  —  the 
belief  in  God  was  as  strong  and  unswerving  in  the 
men  of  1800  as  in  the  men  who  died  at  Smithfield, 
fought  at  Naseby,  or  knelt  on  Plymouth  Rock. 
They  had  not  learned  the  value  of  the  higher  criti- 
cism. They  had  not  found  out  that  Genesis  is  a 
fable  and  Job  a  myth.  They  had  not  discovered 
that  the  Bible  is  but  a  compilation  of  moral  les- 
sons. To  them  it  was  the  Holy  Bible  and  the  very 
word  of  God.  They  believed  the  Bible  and  believed 
in  it.  They  lived  by  its  precepts  and  they  died  in 
its  hope.  They  beheved  in  something  besides  a 
mere  negation,  and  they  believed  it  with  all  their 
hearts.  They  were  positive,  aggressive,  masterful, 
and  the  leaven  of  their  lives,  the  spirit  of  their 
enterprise,  the  resolution  of  their  character,  and  the 
temper  of  their  courage  may  be  seen  to  this  day, 
even  in  men  who  deny  their  fathers'  God  and  smile 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  1 89 

at  their  fathers'  faith.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  pio- 
neers in  this  wilderness  were  sons  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut.  Some  of  them  had  been  nursed 
upon  the  lap  of  those  great  foster-mothers,  Harvard 
and  Yale,  and  all  of  them  were  New  England's 
heirs,  —  inheritors  of  those  twin  New  England 
notions,  the  schoolhouse  and  the  church.  They 
caught  the  torch  of  civilization  from  the  older  States 
and  with  it  drove  away  the  shadow  of  the  woods. 
They  smote  the  forests,  and  lo !  a  church  in  every 
valley,  a  schoolhouse  on  every  hill.  They  prized 
learning  for  they  loved  truth.  They  were  not  afraid 
of  learning,  nor  scared  of  its  beauty,  nor  terrified  at 
its  philosophy.  Nothing  would  have  pleased  them 
more  than  to  pit  the  truths  of  the  gospel  against 
the  philosophy  of  the  ancient  world  or  the  infidelity 
of  the  new.  They  felt  no  doubt  and  they  knew  no 
fear.  Such  were  the  men  —  sublime  in  their  faith, 
fearless  of  heart,  stalwart  of  body,  steadfast  of  soul  — 
who  peopled  this  valley,  and  a  hundred  years  ago 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  this  College  in  poverty 
and  prayer.  We  do  not  know  the  story  of  that 
day's  work,  —  we  only  know  results.  Even  in  such 
a  little  time  the  picture  has  faded  and  the  words 
are  lost.  What  hymns  they  sang,  what  prayers 
they  prayed,  what  words  of  hope  and  cheer  and 
prophecy  they  said  —  with  what  simple  form  or  hal- 
lowed ceremony  did  their  work,  we  cannot  tell. 
But  we  may  well  believe  that  such  men  at  such  a 


I90  MTDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

time  were  not  forgetful  of  their  duty  nor  unmindful 
of  their  destiny ;  and  while  they  built  a  college  for 
their  children,  they  also  built  a  monument  for 
themselves. 

But  whether  there  be  shafts  of  stone,  they  shall 
fail ;  whether  there  be  tablets  of  brass,  they  shall 
cease;  whether  there  be  mausoleums  and  monu- 
ments, they  shall  vanish  away.  But  charity  never 
faileth ;  and  when  the  ostentatious  tomb  has  crum- 
bled back  to  dust  and  betrayed  to  oblivion  even  its 
tenant's  name ;  when  those  vain  men  who  hoped  to 
bribe  men's  memory  with  marble  shafts  and  granite 
columns  have  slipped  into  sudden  and  deserved  for- 
getfulness,  where  is  neither  thought  nor  mention ; 
when  they  are  dead  and  gone,  these  simple,  modest 
lovers  of  their  fellow  men  who  have  built  a  college 
for  the  young,  a  hospital  for  the  sick,  a  home  for 
the  poor,  even  a  fountain  where  a  panting  dog 
may  drink,  —  these  choice  spirits,  lovers  of  all  cre- 
ated life,  shall  live  on  immortal,  their  names  en- 
shrined in  the  love  and  memory  of  long  succeeding 
years.  The  names  of  some  who  founded  this  Col- 
lege, and  who  have  given  it  life,  we  know,  and  even 
as  I  speak  you  softly  whisper  to  yourselves  their 
well-remembered  names.  But  not  all.  Sometimes 
upon  a  battle-field  grown  green  in  peace,  among 
the  monuments  to  famous  troops  and  the  shafts  to 
famous  men,  the  victors  carve  a  simple  stone  "  To 
the  memory  of  the  unknown  dead."     So  here  and 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  191 

now,  with  grateful  hearts  and  fond  remembrance, 
pay  we  our  tribute  of  love  and  gratitude  to  those 
unknown  men  and  women  who,  in  hardship  and 
poverty  and  sacrifice,  on  these  hillsides  and  in  these 
valleys,  first  earned  in  weariness  and  yet  in  hope, 
hallowed  with  their  prayers,  and  gave  with  their 
blessing  their  ungrudging  gifts.  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  you  not  one  of  them  is  forgotten  before  God ; 
let  them  not  be  forgotten  by  us  this  day — or  ever. 

The  story  of  the  first  half-century  in  the  life  of 
this  College  has  many  times  been  told.  It  is  a 
wonderful  story.  I  doubt  if  in  the  history  of  New 
England  college  life  a  more  wonderful  record  has 
been  made,  or  a  more  wonderful  story  can  be  told. 
The  quality  of  the  work  done  here  is  measured  by 
the  men  who  were  educated  in  this  College  during 
its  first  fifty  years,  —  judges  of  supreme  courts, 
bishops  mitred  and  unmitred,  scholars  and  teachers, 
statesmen  and  poets.  And  what  was  the  secret  of 
that  success  ?  First  of  all,  good  stuff.  The  students 
who  came  here  in  that  early  day  were  the  sons  of 
the  men  and  women  I  have  told  you  of.  They  were 
the  heirs  of  their  fathers'  sturdy  piety  and  their 
mothers'  sturdy  faith.  Strength  of  body,  power  of 
mind,  loyalty  to  conscience, — this  was  their  Puritan 
heritage.  These  qualities  they  brought  to  college 
when  they  came,  and  these  qualities,  strengthened 
and  not  enfeebled,  enriched  and  not  starved,  devel- 
oped and  not  dwarfed,  they  carried  with  them  when 


192  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

they  went.  And  the  world  of  that  time,  their  world 
and  age,  knew  them  and  welcomed  them  into  its 
life  and  service.  One  supreme  advantage  the  boys 
of  that  time  had.  They  were  for  the  most  part  poor, 
and  yet  their  poverty  was  not  of  that  abject  kind 
companioned  with  ignorance,  weakness  of  body, 
feebleness  of  mind.  Their  poverty  was  of  that  ro- 
bust, self-respecting,  wholesome  sort  that  lashes  the 
lazy,  coaxes  the  irresolute,  beckons  the  ambitious 
into  sweeter  fields,  to  sunnier  heights,  than  any 
other  guide  may  know.  The  man  who  is  born  to 
wealth  has  clearly  missed  the  pleasure  of  acquisi- 
tion ;  the  man  who  is  born  great  has  surely  never 
felt  the  delight  of  conquest;  the  man  whose  career 
has  been  made  for  him  has  never  felt  the  exaltation 
of  a  man's  fight  or  the  charm  of  a  man  s  victory. 
To  none  of  these  has  fate  been  cruel  that  she 
might  be  kind.  Those  old  boys  were,  not  without 
exception,  but  for  the  most  part,  poor  boys.  They 
came  in  general  from  the  farm ;  they  were  sons 
of  the  soil.  They  had  prepared  for  college  as 
best  they  could,  —  some  at  school;  some  said  their 
lessons  to  the  wide-browed  village  minister,  who 
loved  to  rub  a  little  brighter  his  college  Latin 
against  the  charming  ignorance  of  some  brave, 
uncouth,  ambitious  boy ;  and  some  literally  learned 
their  Greek  at  the  tail  of  a  plough.  They  saw  visions 
and  dreamed  dreams.  Few  books  were  in  their 
fathers'  houses ;  but  they  had  read  the  story  of  one 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  1 93 

Perfect  Life.  Few  pictures  were  on  their  walls; 
but  at  sunset,  as  they  stood  beside  the  pasture  bars, 
they  had  seen  the  glory  in  the  purple  sky.  And 
one  would  be  a  lawyer  and  plead  for  justice  in  a 
poor  man's  cause;  and ^ one  would  be  a  statesman 
and  make  his  country  great  with  wider  liberty  and 
purer  laws;  and  one  would  tell  the  story  of  that 
Perfect  Life  in  darkened  lands  beyond  the  sea. 
"And  a  boy's  will  is  the  wind's  will,  and  the 
thoughts  of  youth  are  long,  long  thoughts."  And 
so  he  left  the  old  homestead  —  the  parsonage  and 
the  farm  —  with  the  father's  benediction  and  the 
mother's  smile,  with  the  sister  to  walk  a  little  way 
beside  him  on  his  road  and  then  turn  back  again, 
in  homespun  suit  as  warm  and  ill-fitting  as  loving 
hands  could  make,  and  came  to  college.  The  story 
of  one  is  the  story  of  many.  One  man,  as  famous 
in  his  time  as  any  scholar  of  the  classics  in  the 
world,  and  not  forgotten  yet,  one  evening  topped 
the  Cornwall  hills,  with  just  six  dollars  in  his  pocket, 
for  a  four  years'  college  course.  He  taught  school 
winters,  and  took  his  pay  in  products  of  the  farm, 
which  in  due  course  of  nature  he  transmuted  into 
second  aorists  and  hexameters.  Another,  known 
wherever  the  poet  of  the  world  is  read,  used  to  carry 
his  shoes  in  his  hands  to  the  schoolhouse  door  to 
save  their  wear  upon  the  gritty  road. 

It  was  not  an  easy  life.     Hard  work,  coarse  food, 
self-denial,  —  these  may  be  the  things  that  the  hero 
13 


194  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

of  the  scholars'  world  is  made  of,  but  they  are 
things  no  more  pleasant  or  agreeable  to  him  than 
to  the  idle  son  of  the  lavish  millionaire ;  let  no  one 
think  it.  But  some  things  are  dearer  than  others 
are  hateful.  The  recompense  of  the  reward  is 
sometimes  more  attractive  than  the  charms  of  Pha- 
raoh's royal  court,  and  commands  respect.  Such 
are  the  compensations  of  nature:  necessity  compels 
labor;  but  labor  gives  power,  study  gives  wisdom, 
practice  gives  skill.  Necessity  compels  fighting 
and  struggle ;  but  fighting  gives  courage,  and  from 
struggle  comes  strength.  Necessity  compels  sacri- 
fice ;  but  sacrifice  sweetens  life.  The  way  is 
smoother  now.  The  bounty  of  generous  men  and 
the  liberality  of  the  State  have  made  a  college  edu- 
cation so  easy  now  that  it  sometimes  takes  less 
courage  and  enterprise  to  go  to  college  than  to  stay 
away.  We  are  such  devotees  to  education  in  this 
country,  the  idea  that  a  liberal  education  is  every 
boy's  due  is  so  ingrain  with  us,  and  the  belief  that 
it  will  solve  all  problems  and  open  all  doors  is  so 
common,  that  American  benefaction  has  largely 
displayed  itself  in  freely  opening  college  doors  to 
all  who  knock.  Scholarships,  fellowships,  prizes 
are  now  so  common  that  no  one  who  has  nerve 
enough  to  convert  a  half-formed  wish  into  a  lazy 
resolution  need  go  untaught.  But  the  question 
may  well  be  asked,  if  all  this  ease  and  lavishness  of 
opportunity  does  not  slack  the  robust  twist  of  inde- 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  1 95 

pendence,  and  steal  courage  and  dull  ambition  and 
lull  the  beating  heart  of  youth.  But  one  thing  it 
certainly  does.  It  takes  away  necessity.  It  takes 
away  the  struggle.  It  lessens  sacrifice.  Let  us 
hope  that  with  freedom  from  struggle  comes  not 
also  loss  of  strength,  that  with  relief  from  sacrifice 
comes  not  also  lack  of  force,  and  that  when  helped 
by  others  the  beneficiary  does  not  also  forget  to 
help  himself,  and  even  nurse  ingratitude. 

The  raw  material  in  those  early  days  was  good  — 
first  growth  —  hard  of  substance,  tough  of  fibre. 
What  of  the  workmanship  of  the  first  half-century  ? 
The  Faculty  of  that  day  were  skilled  workmen. 
They  wrought  well.  They  made  their  impress  upon 
the  minds  of  the  young  men  who  came  to  them,  and 
that  influence  is  still  alive  and  potent,  though  the 
men  are  dead.  Their  course  of  study  may  seem  to 
us  a  narrow  one,  but  men  are  more  than  courses  of 
study.  The  right  man  on  the  other  end  of  the  log 
makes  the  college.  Rugby  without  Thomas  Arnold 
would  have  been  an  English  village  up  in  Warwick- 
shire. Mark  Hopkins  was  more  to  Williams  Col- 
lege than  all  its  stone  and  mortar.  It  is  always  diffi- 
cult to  analyze  a  composite  force  and  to  give  to  each 
element  its  fair  and  exact  credit.  The  students  of 
our  first  half-century  had  the  advantage  of  the  best 
heredity  that  ever  produced  a  man.  They  were  the 
product  of  the  best  blood,  the  best  bone,  the  best 
nerve  and  muscle  and  sinew,  the  best  brain,  heart, 


196  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

and  conscience  that  ever  yet  fell  into  human  form. 
There  may  have  been  men  with  bluer  blood,  with 
softer  manners  and  more  polished  speech ;  there  may 
have  been  men  with  as  rugged  frames,  with  intellect 
as  keen,  with  conscience  as  true  and  heart  as  tender 
as  the  New  England  Puritan,  but  the  combination 
has  never  been  equaled  in  a  whole  race  of  men  since 
the  world  began.  Our  first  half-century  graduates 
were  the  sons  of  this  parentage.  They  had  been 
born  in  humble  surroundings,  nurtured  in  hardship, 
and  reared  in  the  fear  and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 
They  had  been  educated  in  a  little  college  by  big 
men.  They  had  followed  a  narrow  course  of  study 
into  a  broad  and  generous  scholarship.  They  had 
grown  from  boyhood  to  manhood  driven  by  noble 
ambitions  and  led  by  masterful  duty,  and  they  went 
out  into  the  world  with  a  splendid,  all-round  equip- 
ment for  the  truest  and  highest  personal  success  and 
usefulness.  They  went  out  with  strength  and  cour- 
age to  achieve  success  and  to  do  good.  These  men 
represented  two  widely  different  types  of  activity,  but 
stood  together,  not  apart,  in  a  common  struggle  for 
the  commonwealth.  In  a  certain  way  they  repre- 
sented the  church  and  state.  They  stood  for  public 
service  through  the  gospel  and  public  service  through 
the  law.  They  represented  the  evangelization  of  the 
pulpit  and  the  civilization  of  the  bar,  —  the  law  of 
man  and  the  law  of  God,  —  the  things  that  make  for 
righteousness.     The  time  was  ripe  for  great  achieve- 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  197 

ment,  and  the  world  was  broad  in  opportunity.  Old 
parties  were  breaking  up,  and  new  combinations 
were  forming.  The  party  of  Washington  and 
Adams  was  going,  or  had  gone,  to  pieces.  The 
young  men  of  that  day  could  easily  grasp  leadership, 
and  control  the  newer  combinations.  It  is  the  young 
men  who  form  new  and  permanent  parties,  and  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  this  century  two  powerful  politi- 
cal organizations  were  formed,  and  another  was  made 
possible,  which  exercised  tremendous  influence  in 
this  country,  and  in  turn  moulded  its  destiny.  And 
there  were  great  questions  at  stake,  —  questions  that 
thrilled  men's  hearts  and  stirred  their  blood.  The 
last  generation  had  fought  for  the  sublime  principle 
that  all  men  are  created  equal  and  have  the  unalien- 
able rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness ;  that  taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny. 
The  next  generation  of  young  Americans  who  had 
learned  their  lessons  of  liberty  in  fireside  tales  of 
Bunker  Hill  and  Lexington  and  Ticonderoga  from 
the  very  lips  of  their  fighting  sires,  —  these  young 
New  Englanders,  brave,  generous,  impulsive,  edu- 
cated in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  Com- 
mon Law,  went  out  into  the  world  with  a  blush  on 
the  cheek  when  they  looked  at  their  flag  with  the 
bragging  lie  of  freedom  in  its  folds.  A  nation  can- 
not exist  half  slave  and  half  free,  and  the  inevitable 
conflict  that  began  before  the  century,  gave  cause 
grand   enough,  and  opportunity  wide  enough,  for 


1 98         MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

the  youth  of  New  England  to  show  that  Runny- 
mede  and  Marston  Moor,  Plymouth  Rock  and 
Bunker  Hill  and  Calvary  were  not  forgotten.  But 
New  England  is  not  bounded  by  the  narrow  rim  of 
her  six  little  States.  Her  parish  also  was  the  world, 
her  forum  every  place  where  justice  lacked  a  tongue. 
New  England  has  been  the  leaven  hid  in  forty-five 
measures  of  meal;  not  the  mother  of  presidents,  but 
the  mother  of  States.  And  into  the  empty  West  our 
young  men  went  in  that  early  day.  And  wherever 
they  planted  themselves,  there  was  healthy  granula- 
tion and  abundant  growth. 

Our  first  half-century  was  preeminently  an  era 
of  the  intellect  —  of  the  lawyer,  the  minister,  the 
missionary,  and  the  teacher.  The  law  and  the  min- 
istry were  early  rivals  for  the  professional  devotion 
of  men  trained  to  think,  and  especially  in  that  time 
when  theology  took  on  so  much  of  the  legal,  logical, 
and  judicial  character.  Those  who  chose  the  law 
were  men  who  in  stainless  character  and  lofty  pur- 
pose were  not  unworthy  of  their  Puritan  parentage. 
They  opened  law-offices  furnished  with  a  deal  table, 
Blackstone's  Commentaries,  and  the  Statutes  of  the 
State.  They  literally  laid  down  the  law.  They 
carried  to  the  uncouth  bar  of  the  lawless  West  the 
common  sense  of  their  shrewd  New  England  race  — 
the  culture  of  the  school  and  college,  the  power  of 
real  wisdom,  the  logic  of  trained  minds,  the  integrity 
of   the  Puritan,  the   strength  of   the   hills.     They 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  1 99 

adorned  the  bar,  they  dignified  the  bench,  and  in 
the  halls  of  legislation  they  bore  a  conspicuous  and 
honorable  part.  The  organic  law  of  many  a  West- 
ern state  bears  to-day  the  impress  of  their  forming 
hands.  And  so  in  the  country  villages  of  Vermont, 
in  the  cities  of  the  East  and  West  —  across  the 
Alleghanies,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  on  the 
great  plains,  they  made  their  way,  establishing  law 
and  doing  equity  with  clear  thought  and  clean 
hands. 

The  typical  New  England  minister  of  fifty  years 
ago,  as  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  was  sui generis.  He 
was  a  scholar,  a  thinker,  a  reasoner,  a  logician.  His 
intellect  was  trained.  Some  might  say  his  emotions 
were  suppressed;  certainly  they  were  controlled. 
These  men  especially  excelled  in  cogent  thinking 
and  in  clear  and  powerful  expression  of  their 
thought.  Their  congregations  were  trained  to  this 
intellectual  style  and  habit,  and  delighted  in  it.  Not 
a  Httle  of  the  intellectual  grip  of  New  England  char- 
acter is  due  to  the  training  in  intellectual  processes 
which  the  people  received  from  regular  and  attentive 
attendance  upon  the  double  service  every  Sunday, 
year  after  year,  in  the  village  church.  It  was  an 
education  in  itself.  The  stern  theology  of  the  older 
time  had  not  passed  away.  They  still  believed  every 
word  of  the  Bible.  They  beHeved  in  foreordination 
and  the  eternal  decrees,  and  that  theology  that  has 
developed  the  grandest  race  of  thinkers  the  world 


200  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

has  ever  known,  —  keenest  in  logic,  shrewdest  in  wit, 
coolest  in  judgment,  calmest  in  temper,  bravest  in 
danger,  heroic  in  sacrifice,  —  that  theology  was  their 
theology,  and  that  faith  was  their  faith.  Whatever 
we  may  think  of  it  as  an  abstract  proposition,  no 
one  can  deny  that  it  developed  a  race  of  men  virile 
of  body  and  virile  of  mind,  prepotent  to  this  day. 
And  many  a  man  masterful  in  business,  domi- 
nating in  law,  sweeping  a  splendid  swath  of  success 
through  the  world,  is  the  son  or  the  grandson  of 
one  of  these  same  old  Puritan  ministers  with  the 
high  forehead  and  the  thin  lips.  Yet  as  time  goes 
on  we  can  detect  a  subtle  change.  While  pure 
reason  still  holds  sway,  there  creep  into  their  clear 
and  simple  style  a  loftier  eloquence  and  a  deeper 
human  sympathy.  The  imagination  comes  in  play; 
the  sense  of  beauty,  the  love  of  God,  are  felt  more 
keenly,  and,  being  felt,  they  find  expression  in 
manly,  never  maudlin,  speech.  The  New  Eng- 
land minister  transplanted  to  the  efflorescent  West 
did  not  lose  his  character  or  fibre.  He  did  not 
run  to  pith  and  sap;  but  he  did  throw  out  a  few 
new  buds,  he  did  develop  a  more  luxuriant  foliage. 
And  in  his  shadow  men  still  hid  themselves  from 
the  drought  of  infideHty  and  the  storm  of  doubt. 
Our  graduates  were  splendid  representatives  of  the 
New  England  Puritan  ministry.  Pure  in  life,  clear 
in  mind,  powerful  in  reason,  classic  in  speech,  in 
country  meeting-house  and  in  city  church  they  pre- 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  20I 

served  the  ancient  landmarks  and  maintained  the  an- 
cient standard  of  Christian  thought  and  speech. 

But  there  was  another  class  of  men  who  must  not 
be  this  day  forgotten.  They  were  men  of  bone  and 
substance  like  all  those  old  New  Englanders, 
gaunt,  high-browed,  bright-eyed.  Their  library  also 
consisted  of  two  books,  a  hymn-book  and  the 
Bible.  They  went  away  in  youth  and  hope.  They 
were  not  hectic-cheeked  enthusiasts,  but  they  were 
sober  men  and  earnest  men,  who  had  heard  that 
divine  command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  and  obeyed. 
They,  too,  went  into  the  West  and  held  the  frontier 
posts  with  the  Indians  and  the  trader.  They  were  not 
spasmodic  in  their  zeal,  but  tireless.  Year  in  and 
year  out,  in  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold,  they 
toiled  on.  They  measured  endless  prairie  trails 
with  weary  feet;  they  climbed  mountains;  they 
forded  streams.  They  felt  the  slipping  years  go  by 
without  home  or  sure  abiding  place.  While  others 
laid  the  foundation  for  a  fortune,  they  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  a  church ;  while  others  gathered  for  the 
asking  fertile  acres  for  a  homestead,  they  had  no 
time  to  ask  or  gather.  And  so  they  lived  and  so 
they  wrought,  "in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in 
watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings 
often,  in  cold  and  nakedness."  And  to-day  many 
of  these  heroic  men,  who  had  in  life  not  where 
to   lay  their  heads,  sleep  well   and   safely  in   un- 


202  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

known  graves  in  mountain  and  plain,  where  sigh 
the  sombre  woods — where  rolls  the  Oregon.  But 
they  are  not  forgotten.  While  we  pay  our  tribute 
this  day  to  statesman  and  soldier,  to  scholar  and 
poet,  let  us  not  forget  these  soldiers  of  the  Cross 
who  pass  before  us  with  their  waving  banners  and 
their  sounding  shields.  Their  banner  is  the  banner 
of  the  Cross,  their  sword  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  their 
armor  the  breastplate  of  righteousness  and  the  hel- 
met of  salvation.  Their  conquest  is  the  soul.  Hush 
the  trumpet,  still  the  drum,  —  and  let  us  stand  silent 
before  these  men  of  whom  the  world  is  not  worthy. 
Soldiers  upon  the  picket  lines  of  civilization !  Pio- 
neers and  patriots !  Servants  of  God !  Well  done  ! 
And  what  is  true  of  these  men  is  also  true  of 
those  other  heroic  souls  whose  sympathies,  wide  as 
the  world,  swept  them  into  foreign  fields.  Exiles  from 
home,  they  lived  their  homesick  lives  in  patience. 
They  built  altars  on  the  Bosphorus  and  beside  the 
Ganges.  Their  country  was  the  world.  In  Asia,  in 
Africa,  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  they  told  the  races 
of  an  ancient  era  the  story  of  the  new.  Scholars 
who  had  mastered  here  the  ancient  languages  of 
Greece  and  Rome  set  themselves  to  familiar  tasks 
in  India  and  Siam.  They  translated  the  Bible  into 
strange  tongues.  They  preached  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor  in  barbarous  dialects  and  uncouth  speech. 
They  endured  the  fever  of  the  tropics  and  the  pesti- 
lence of  the  horrible  East.     They  were  reviled,  they 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  203 

were  despoiled,  they  were  scourged.  In  sublime 
patience  they  worked  and  waited,  —  sometimes  for 
years  without  a  convert  or  a  sign  from  heaven, — 
yet  never  in  despair.  They  lived  with  the  lowest 
castes,  they  fed  them  in  famine,  they  nursed  them  in 
sickness,  they  held  the  hands  of  the  dying,  they 
buried  the  loathsome  dead.  What  a  life !  Year 
after  year  —  and  life  is  long.  Exiled  from  country, 
parted  from  friends,  and  all  for  what  ?  For  a  soldier's 
glory  or  a  statesman's  fame  ?  Ah,  no.  Just  to  tell  the 
heathen  the  story  of  the  Cross;  just  to  carry  an  un- 
known Gospel  to  the  poor,  and  then  to  die  and  be 
forgotten  like  one  of  them.  Talk  of  courage  and 
self-sacrifice  and  duty !  There  is  no  courage  and 
self-sacrifice  and  duty  like  this  since  Time  began. 
And  the  students  of  this  College  in  all  this  work  of 
home  and  foreign  missions  have  borne  a  splendid  part. 
The  history  of  missions  is  largely  a  history  of  this  Col- 
lege. And  it  is  a  story  to  be  proud  of,  a  story  that 
every  man  may  feel  his  eyes  grow  dim  about  with- 
out shame,  however  litde  he  may  sympathize  with 
the  cause  itself,  as  a  record  of  human  courage, 
fidelity  to  duty,  love  of  humanity,  loyalty  to  God 
that  has  never  been  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  man- 
kind. 

And  there  were  the  teachers.  The  schoolmaster 
was  abroad  in  the  land.  He  swarmed  in  the  South 
and  West.  Tutors  in  families,  principals  of  schools, 
professors  in  colleges,  presidents  of  universities,  — 


204  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

they  were  found  in  every  grade  of  the  teachers' 
profession,  and  in  every  rank  adorned  it.  They 
were  pioneers.  They  established  schools  and  col- 
leges that  have  flourished  for  fifty  years  and  still 
endure.  We  are  familiar  with  New  England's  story 
in  the  West;  it  is  a  twice-told  tale.  But  the  in- 
fluence of  this  College  in  the  Southern  States  before 
the  war  is  quite  as  remarkable,  though  but  litde 
known.  As  lawyers  they  took  the  highest  rank  at 
the  Southern  bar,  as  teachers  they  were  unsur- 
passed, as  preachers  they  sustained  New  England's 
fame.  As  politicians  they  were  mosdy  Whigs,  and 
therefore  little  known  to  official  life.  But  intellec- 
tually, socially,  and  professionally  they  took  the 
highest  rank.  Their  influence  was  deep  and  wide, 
and  has  endured.  They  touched  the  Southern  life 
at  many  points,  and  in  all  those  things  that  make 
for  law,  for  education,  for  Christian  character  and 
civic  virtue,  their  work  is  still  remembered  and  their 
influence  is  still  felt. 

But  the  century  swings  into  its  middle  course. 
Times  have  changed.  The  fields  are  stumpless. 
Farms  stretch  out  in  broad  and  fertile  acres,  perfect 
in  culture,  clean  in  tilth.  The  log  cabin  has  been 
twice  displaced,  and  now  the  big  white  farm-house 
sheltered  by  grandsire-planted  elms  and  maples  is 
the  evolution  of  a  New  England  home.  Its  fire- 
side knows  New  England  culture,  its  larder  knows 
New  England   thrift.     "The  pastures   are  clothed 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  205 

with  flocks ;  the  valleys  also  are  covered  over  with 
corn;  they  shout  for  joy,  they  also  sing."  Highways 
had  broadened,  villages  had  multiplied ;  and  every 
village  was  a  commercial  and  industrial  centre. 
Naturally  developed  by  the  necessities  of  thrifty  and 
prosperous  agricultural  surroundings,  these  village 
and  rural  communities  grew  into  an  ideal  and 
balanced  industrial  life.  All  crafts  and  trades  and 
local  commerce  found  healthy  and  prosperous  de- 
velopment. And  industry  brought  wealth  and 
thrift  won  plenty.  The  stately  mansions  that  lined 
the  lengthening  village  street  proclaimed  the  per- 
fection of  that  tempered  wealth  and  wholesome 
comfort  and  healthy  industry  and  professional  dig- 
nity which  New  England  villages  once  enjoyed. 
And  let  us  not  forget  the  debt  of  gratitude  this  Col- 
lege and  the  students  of  this  College  owe  to  the 
town  of  Middlebury  and  its  citizens.  For  a  hundred 
years  their  homes  have  been  open  to  us,  and  their 
cheer  and  bounty  ours.  We  have  known  the  last- 
ing friendships  of  their  firesides,  and  shared  the 
gracious  influences  of  their  social  life.  Their  men 
have  helped  many  a  baffled  struggler  on  his  way, 
their  matrons  mothered  many  a  homesick  boy,  their 
daughters  inspired  the  life  and  glorified  the  home 
of  many  a  worthy  man.  We  cannot  separate  the 
College  and  the  village  in  our  thought  or  in  our  life. 
It  is  Middlebury  College,  and  as  our  outward  lives 
are  linked  together,  so  should  our  spirits  be,  in  mu- 


2o6  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

tual  love  and  pride  and  helpfulness.  The  New 
England  love  of  learning,  zeal  for  study,  hunger  for 
books  had  developed  by  the  middle  century  into  a 
broader  culture  and  a  wider  intellectual  life.  Rail- 
roads, telegraphs,  newspapers,  and  magazines  were 
the  sun  and  rain  in  which  the  New  England  char- 
acter bloomed  and  fruited.  And  over  all,  wealth  of 
field,  pride  of  flock,  comfort  of  home,  there  extended 
an  open-hearted  hospitality  that  never  shut  its  door 
in  the  face  of  a  stranger  nor  closed  it  to  a  friend. 
And  yet  these  people  were  not  rich  in  the  modern 
sense.  That  good  old  New  England  word  describes 
them  fitly:  they  were  independent,  and,  what  is 
better,  the  Nev/  England  character  had  not  been 
bred  out  of  them  nor  shamed  within  them.  Their 
men  were  still  industrious,  and  their  women  capable. 
Plenty  had  not  fostered  pride,  nor  leisure  laziness. 
On  week-days,  as  before,  the  thriftiest  farmers  were 
earliest  afield.  On  Sundays  their  horses  still  filled 
the  meeting-house  sheds,  their  children  filled  its 
pews. 

But  the  shadow  of  a  coming  crisis  was  already 
casting  its  cloud  on  all  this  scene  of  peace  and 
plenty.  The  slavery  question  and  the  Union  ques- 
tion, that  had  dominated  the  political  thought  of 
New  England  for  two  generations,  were  clamoring 
for  their  answer.  Politics  crept  into  the  pulpit,  and 
the  schoolhouse  became  a  forum.  These  questions 
were  debated  everywhere,  on  the  farm  and  at  the 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  207 

fireside,  in  the  shop  or  at  the  village  store,  or  where 
chance  travellers  met  beside  the  road.  In  such  an 
atmosphere  of  life  and  thought  and  labor,  the  young 
men  of  that  day  were  reared,  and  under  such  influ- 
ences they  came  to  college.  Not  that  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  great  conflict  was  consciously  upon  them. 
They  filled  the  brimming  cup  of  life  with  hope  and 
purpose  then  as  now.  But  yet  there  was  an  uncon- 
scious preparation  for  the  trying  days  to  come;  and 
when  that  time  came,  when  the  last  compromise 
had  been  rejected,  the  last  word  said,  when  the  flute 
faltered  and  the  trumpet  rang,  then  the  men  of  Mid- 
dlebury,  like  the  men  of  every  Northern  college, 
graduate  and  undergraduate,  calmly  laid  aside  the 
book  and  pen,  or  implement  of  labor,  and  peaceful 
hope  and  fond  purpose  and  young  desire,  and  coolly, 
as  became  their  race,  without  passion,  as  became 
their  cause,  enlisted  for  the  war.  They  fought  the 
battle  of  the  Lord;  they  fought  to  free  men,  not 
enslave  them ;  and  many  of  our  best  and  bravest 
paid  their  last  full  measure  of  devotion,  "  that  gov- 
ernment of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people  should  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

Our  first  martyr  in  that  sacred  cause  of  liberty 
was  Bennett,  of  the  Class  of  '64.  I  shall  name  no 
other.  Let  that  young  life,  sweet,  pure,  courtly, 
brave,  gentle  as  a  girl,  stand  as  the  knightly  type 
of  all  those  men  who  in  that  contest  gave  the 
scholar's  proof  that  "a  sweet  and  pleasant  thing 


2o8  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

it  is  for  one's  country  to  die."  The  war  is  over;  but 
*' There's  rosemary,  that's  for  remembrance;  and 
there  is  pansies,  that's  for  thoughts." 

Any  comparison  between  the  product  of  the  two 
half-centuries  would  be  manifestly  fair  to  neither, 
necessarily  false  to  both.  The  conditions  are  not 
the  same,  the  men  unlike,  opportunities  unequal, 
ideals  changed.  Theology,  law,  and  medicine  no 
longer  monopolize  the  ambition  or  dominate  the 
lives  of  educated  men.  Manufacturing,  commerce, 
transportation,  general  business,  now  draw  young 
men  of  learning  into  widening  fields  of  activity,  and 
call  the  keenest  intellects  and  best  trained  minds 
into  their  exacting  service,  where  rewards  are  sure 
and  often  great,  but  yet  remote  from  public  gaze. 
Then,  too,  the  men  of  the  first  half-century  have 
for  the  most  part  done  their  work.  The  record  is 
closed.  The  men  of  the  second  half  stand  now  with 
tasks  unfinished ;  some  have  hardly  started,  others 
not  begun.  But  taking  the  century  as  a  whole,  how 
does  the  record  of  this  College  stand  .^^  Let  our 
scholars  tell  their  story  of  patient  study  and  years 
of  thankless  toil  in  corners  where  their  fellow-men 
regard  them  not,  and  the  babble  of  the  idle  world 
goes  past  them,  while  they  give  the  Bible  to  every 
tongue  to  read  the  story  of  the  Cross ;  revise  the 
Scriptures  for  men's  faith  and  hope  to  rest  upon ; 
reread  the  lines  of  Shakespeare,  and  with  subtle 
touch  unlock  the  treasure-house  of  his  immortal 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  209 

genius;  lead  the  feet  of  blind  old  Homer  from  the 
halls  of  ancient  kings;  tell  again  the  memorable 
story  of  the  deathless  Greeks;  or  with  keen  anal- 
ysis and  fine  discrimination  unfold  the  strength  and 
beauty  of  our  mother  tongue.  And  there  was  one 
who  told  in  epic  prose  the  story  of  our  native 
heroes  and  drew  a  fadeless  picture  of  our  early 
life;  and  one  who  dipped  his  pen  in  sunshine 
and  wrote  to  cheer  and  charm  mankind.  Let 
our  statesmen  tell  their  story  of  healthful  legisla- 
tion, wise  administration  of  public  affairs,  loyalty 
to  liberty,  fidelity  to  justice,  obedience  to  law,  with 
an  influence  as  wholesome  as  the  winds  that  sweep 
our  northern  hills.  Let  our  jurists  speak  of  their 
unsullied  record  at  the  bar,  their  spotless  ermine 
on  the  bench.  And  let  those  heroic  men  who 
on  our  own  frontier  and  on  the  wide  world's  outmost 
rim  upheld  the  Cross,  tell  their  story  of  devotion  to 
duty  and  of  love  of  God.  But  that  would  leave  the 
story  incomplete.  A  mountain  range  is  not  made 
up  alone  of  dazzling  peaks  that  lift  their  shining 
heights  into  the  solemn  sky.  But  the  table-lands 
and  rolling  hills  with  valleys  in  between,  the  un- 
named mountains,  and  the  sweep  of  height,  all  knit 
the  ribs  of  earth  and  make  the  strength  of  the  hills 
that  is  also  His.  So  not  these  famous  men  alone 
make  up  the  record  of  our  mothers'  household.  Let 
them  also  speak  who  have  trod  with  patient  feet  a 
narrower  round  of  toil,  have  carried  into  their  busi- 
14 


2IO  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

ness  their  mothers'  lessons  of  truth  and  virtue,  have 
done  their  work,  have  healed  the  sick,  have  loved 
their  God  and  kept  the  faith  in  little  corners  where 
their  lives  have  been  a  constant  blessing  to  their 
fellow-men  —  unheralded,  perhaps,  but  not  unknown 
and  not  forgotten.  And  more  than  this  must  be 
remembered,  for  the  good  men  do  lives  after  them  in 
lives  of  other  men  inspired,  ennobled,  and  enriched, 
to  be  by  them  transmitted  to  others  still,  and  so  on 
in  endless  series  till  the  Lord  shall  come.  And  this 
is  our  record :  a  hundred  years  of  usefulness,  and  so 
a  century  of  honor. 

But  we  should  look  forward  as  well  as  back. 
We  may  pay,  and  we  should  pay,  our  tribute  to 
the  Past.  With  dim  eyes  we  should  think  of 
our  fathers'  toil  and  sacrifice,  with  pride  of  their 
courage,  with  exultation  of  their  matchless  record 
of  faithfulness  to  truth  and  duty.  And  then  we 
should  turn  our  faces  to  the  rising  sun  of  the 
new  century,  and  meet  the  future  with  a  steadfast 
heart.  I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  maker 
of  heaven  and  earth.  And  it  cannot  be  that  man  has 
been  brought  thus  far  to  be  turned  back  again  and 
made  to  retrace  his  steps  with  muttering  lip  and 
sullen  brow.  But  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  man- 
kind will  make  many  crooked  paths;  we  may  wander 
years  to  gain  a  little  distance.  And  in  the  future  as 
in  the  past,  mankind  will  smart  at  his  own  mistakes 
and  stumble  over  the  obstacles  of  his  own  seeking. 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  211 

The  lessons  of  the  Past  we  shall  still  refuse  to  learn, 
and  into  the  darkness  of  the  Future  we  shall  still 
blindly  grope  our  way.  But  nevertheless  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  race  shall  some  day  be  complete.  And 
some  day  the  world  will  have  learned  its  lesson,  that 
men  shall  not  gather  grapes  from  thorns;  that  false- 
hood does  not  breed  truth ;  that  vice  does  not  bring 
forth  virtue,  injustice  and  cruelty  do  not  beget  peace 
and  blessing.  It  is  the  business  of  the  college  to 
help  the  world  to  learn  its  lesson. 

The  college  of  the  future,  if  it  hopes  to  long  en- 
dure and  if  it  deserves  to  long  endure,  must  be 
founded  on  a  rock.  Before  the  sunrise  God  was ; 
after  the  sunset  God  shall  be.  What  I  say  may  seem 
to  some  of  you  trite,  old-fashioned,  commonplace, 
passe.  So  much  the  worse  for  you  and  us,  if  many 
think  so.  But  the  eternal  verities  will  endure  —  the 
eternity  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  power 
of  the  endless  life.  When  the  New  England  college, 
when  this  College,  no  longer  believes  these  things, 
and  no  longer  by  precept  and  example  teaches  them, 
the  New  England  college,  and  this  College,  with  its 
influence  and  its  power,  will  also  have  passed  away. 
The  college  of  the  future  should  give  a  broad  and 
generous  scholarship.  Literature,  art,  science,  reli- 
gion, fidelity  to  all  truth,  should  mark  it.  All  lines 
of  truth  are  converging  highways  that  lead  to  God. 
Fear  it  not.  Art  is  long.  Knowledge  multiplies. 
A  liberal  education  to-day  means  much  more  than 


212  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

it  meant  a  hundred  years  ago.  But  still,  if  it  is  to 
be  liberal,  it  must  not  be  narrowed  too  soon  into 
the  poverty  of  specialization.  A  college  may  pay 
too  generous  and  too  willing  tribute  to  the  clamor- 
ous exactions  of  this  mortal  life.  And  the  college 
of  the  future  should  teach  the  love  of  country  and 
the  duties  of  good  citizenship.  It  should  not  teach 
a  blinded  fetishism  that  says  to  the  evil  of  a  party 
platform,  "  Be  thou  my  good."  It  should  not  teach 
a  servile  obedience  to  popular  clamor  that  cries, 
"  My  country,  right  or  wrong."  It  should  teach 
that  wrong  can  never  be  right  nor  even  wise,  nor 
evil  good.  It  should  teach  the  universal  truths  of 
liberty,  justice,  and  respect  for  law.  It  should  teach 
individual  honesty  and  national  honor.  It  should 
make  good  citizens  because  it  makes  good  men. 
Young  men  should  not  be  made  to  believe,  nor  be 
permitted  to  believe,  that  politics  is  simply  a  field 
for  individual  ambition  to  wrestle  in,  or  that  public 
office  is  simply  big  game  to  stalk  for  the  excitement 
of  the  hunt  and  the  personal  glory  of  a  great  kill. 
But  they  should  be  taught  that  public  office  is  in- 
deed a  public  trust;  not  a  fool's  bauble  for  wealth 
to  buy,  not  a  prize  for  some  supreme  egotist  to 
clutch,  but  a  crown  to  be  bestowed,  for  some  humble 
head  to  wear.  And  the  college  of  the  future  should 
teach  the  solidarity  of  the  race,  the  brotherhood  of 
man.  Every  year  the  world  is  fuller,  every  year  the 
struggle  is  harder,  and  every  year  the  competition 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  21 3 

for  work  and  place  grows  swifter  and  more  fierce. 
Must  it  be  that  with  this  increasing  struggle  men 
must  grow  more  savage  and  relentless,  like  wild 
beasts  growling  over  white  bones  in  a  jungle?  I 
will  not  believe  it.  Against  the  advocates  of  the 
strenuous  life  that  would  trample  a  pitiless  way  to 
selfish  success,  let  the  college  interpose  with  lessons 
of  gentleness  and  pity.  Against  the  cynicism  of 
ambition  and  selfishness  let  the  college  pit  unself- 
ishness and  the  love  of  God.  They  have  the 
experience  of  the  relentless  world,  they  have  the 
arrogance  of  success,  but  we  have  the  blessing  of 
Heaven  and  the  brave  heart  of  generous  youth,  and 
on  it  the  American  colleges  in  the  coming  years 
may  write  their  will. 

Peace  is  not  only  the  ideal,  but  it  is  the  normal 
state  of  society.  Wars  are  not  the  rule,  but  the 
exception.  To  fit  young  men  for  the  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  life  is  the  function  of  the  college.  Creative 
genius  is  of  a  higher  order  than  the  savage  instinct 
of  death  and  destruction :  to  create  is  better  than  to 
destroy ;  to  build  up  is  better  than  to  tear  down ; 
to  save  life  is  better  than  to  take  life.  Man  has  not 
yet  bred  out  of  his  nature  the  taint  of  the  savage, 
the  lust  of  conquest,  and  the  thirst  for  blood.  The 
barbaric  splendor  of  shining  arms  and  clashing  steel 
and  rolling  drums  and  the  thunder  of  the  charge 
have  still  their  charm ;  but  nevertheless  peace  and 
not  war  is  the  ideal  and  the  normal  life.     We  do 


214  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

pray,  "  Give  us  peace  in  our  time,"  and  we  look  for- 
ward to  that  promised  day  when  the  nations  shall 
learn  war  no  more.  Is  that  the  vision  of  a  dreamer, 
the  dream  of  a  poet,  or  the  promise  of  God  ?  Is  it, 
then,  "  Fie  on  this  dull  life  "  ?  Well,  there  is  left  the 
danger  of  carrying  cups  of  water  to  them  who  die 
of  pestilence,  and  there  remains  the  excitement  of 
giving  bread  to  them  that  starve.  The  work  of  this 
College,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  is  not  to  teach 
the  science  of  slaughter  or  the  arts  of  war,  but  rather 
to  teach  the  science  of  constructive  life  and  the  arts 
of  peace;  to  make  good  men  and  wise  men,  who 
shall  make  an  impress  not  only  upon  their  own 
time,  but  upon  all  time  to  come ;  to  make  scholars 
who  shall  master  the  wisdom  of  the  past  and  mould 
it  into  blessing  for  the  coming  age ;  to  make  states- 
men who  shall  solve  the  perplexing  problems  of  the 
advancing  years;  to  make  jurists  who  shall  wisely 
judge  and,  without  fear  or  favor,  administer  the  law 
as  those  who  share  with  God  functions  divine;  to 
make  preachers  who  shall  still  the  turmoil  in  the 
world's  troubled  heart  and  lead  mankind  into  paths 
of  peace ;  to  make  citizens  to  whose  wisdom  and 
valor  the  honor  and  the  destiny  of  this  great  nation 
may  be  safely  left. 

But  the  waiting  century  beckons  us  as  the  other 
waves  farewell.  The  gates  of  the  new  era  swing 
wide  open  to  our  eager  yet  reluctant  feet.  We 
pause  upon  its  threshold  with  crowding  recollections 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  215 

thick  upon  us.  The  Past  holds  us  while  yet  the 
Future  calls  —  the  Past  with  its  splendid  story,  its 
sacred  memories,  and  its  gracious  life.  We  wait 
your  benediction,  Spirits  of  the  immortal  Dead! 
And  now  we  turn  our  faces  to  the  rising  sun  of  a 
new  day,  —  a  day  of  promise,  a  day  of  hope.  Tre- 
mendous possibilities  await  us.  The  new  century  is 
heir  of  all  the  ages  past,  and  what  we  shall  be  doth 
not  yet  appear ;  but  we  may  not  doubt  that  the  com- 
ing years  will  be  rich  in  opportunity  for  individual 
development  and  for  beneficent  service  to  all  man- 
kind. With  high  ideals  of  what  this  human  life 
should  be,  with  chastened  ambitions  and  unselfish 
purpose,  with  minds  trained  to  think  and  souls  to 
feel,  the  college  men  of  the  twentieth  century  may 
conquer  the  world.  Let  this  college  of  the  future 
sow  the  seed  of  sound  learning,  wise  thinking,  and 
right  living,  and  she  shall  reap  sure  harvests  of 
blessing  and  benefaction  in  due  time,  if  she  faint 
not. 

"  Beyond  the  sowing  and  the  reaping  we  shall  be 
soon."  But  the  gracious  mother  of  us  all,  beautiful 
in  her  immortal  youth,  shall  live  on,  loved  and  cher- 
ished by  succeeding  generations,  extending  her  in- 
fluence into  wide  and  wider  circles,  teaching  always 
the  lessons  of  faithfulness  and  honor.  And  may  the 
God  of  our  fathers,  who  led  and  guarded  them,  lead 
and  guard  us  still. 


CENTENNIAL  VERSES 

By  professor  EDWIN   H.  HIGLEY 

ACROSS  the  stage  of  human  life 
A  hurrying  throng  moves  swiftly  on ; 
In  joy  or  grief,  in  peace  or  strife, 
They  act  their  parts  and  soon  are  gone. 
Yet  over  all  abides  th'  eternal  sway, 
Which  counts  a  thousand  years  as  but  a  day. 

So  when  a  century  is  told. 
By  heaven's  time  'tis  no  great  age ! 
Our  Alma  Mater  is  not  old,  — 
She 's  not  been  long  upon  the  stage ! 
Still  fresh  and  fair,  tho'  growing  somewhat  stout, 
'Tis  plain  her  play  of  life  is  not  played  out. 

No  drama's  end,  no  falling  curtain, 

Supply  to-day  a  mournful  theme ; 

No  direful  fears  or  hopes  uncertain 

Obstruct  the  flow  of  joy's  full  stream. 
The  action  still  moves  on  without  surcease. 
And  shows  'tis  just  the  opening  of  the  piece. 

We  seek  to  scan,  with  hurried  glance. 

The  actors,  as  they  pass  us  by. 

Successive  groups  retire,  advance, 

Or  yet  await  the  prompter's  cry. 
In  five-fold  column,  each  with  varied  mien. 
They  move  across  the  wide  centennial  scene. 
216 


CENTENNIAL  VERSES  21 7 

GROUP  THE   FIRST,  1800-1820 

Eighteen  hundred  —  eighteen  twenty, 

Sturdy  youths  with  zeal  a  plenty, 
Clustering  round  the  old  East  College, 
Scant  of  wealth,  but  rich  in  knowledge ; 
Tougher  lessons  theirs  than  we  knew, 
For  they  studied  law  and  Hebrew ; 
Theologues  with  doctrines  torrid. 
Thinking  Jefferson  was  horrid, 
Talking  much  of  searching  cargoes. 
Raving  much  of  French  embargoes. 
Now  and  then  a  lesson  dropping, 
When  the  Plattsburg  guns  were  popping. 
Soon,  their  throng  increasing  greatly. 
Round  a  structure  new  and  stately. 
Praises  —  that  shall  ne'er  grow  fainter ! 
Hailed  thy  Hall,  Gamaliel  Painter ! 

Sturdy  youths  with  zeal  a  plenty, 

'Twixt  those  years  from  naught  to  twenty, 

Sapienter^  cum  laborer 

DiligenteVy  cum  amorCy 

Making  Alma  Mater's  story. 


GROUP  THE  SECOND,  1820-1840 

Fuller  in  number  the  column  appears. 
Wending  its  way  through  the  next  score  of  years ; 
Masters  were  found  of  endurable  stuff, 
Fowler,  and  Turner,  and  Adams,  and  Hough, 
Setting  to  rights  all  the  systems  of  science. 
Training  a  true  generation  of  giants. 
Notable  leaders  of  notable  men. 
Never  to  fade  from  our  memory's  ken ! 


2l8  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

While,  as  when  Israel  sought  Canaan's  land, 
A  Joshua  guided,  with  masterful  hand. 
And  now  Alma  Mater  revealed  her  true  worth, 
Sending  her  sons  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
Judges  and  jurists  and  preachers  of  truth, 
Leaders  of  senates  and  teachers  of  youth. 
Charming  a  world  with  melodious  measures, 
Op'ning  our  souls  to  Shakespearian  treasures. 
Solving  diplomacy's  knottiest  knot. 
Statesmen,  who  walked  without  blemish  or  blot. 
These,  Alma  Mater,  thy  jewels  of  gold, 
Never  to  pass  from  our  memory's  hold  ! 

GROUP  THE  THIRD,  1 840-1 860 

And  now  the  scene  another  picture  shows ; 

The  line  contracts,  the  column  thinner  grows ; 

Yet  onward  still  they  move  without  dismay. 

While  "  Benjamin  their  ruler  "  leads  the  way, 

And  Alma  Mater  lays  all  fears  to  rest  — 

(Tis  chiefs  with  Bible  names  that  suit  her  best !) 

Tho'  now  we  call  him  Benjamin  or  Ben, 

No  soul  alive  had  dared  to  do  it  then ! 

A  leader  prudent,  dignified,  devout. 

Alert  to  all  within  and  all  without. 

The  culprits  opened  all  their  inmost  souls. 

When  he  benignly  hauled  them  o'er  the  coals. 

And  those  who  learned  of  him  —  we  need  not  name. 

The  age  has  felt  their  power  and  guards  their  fame. 

Wherever  great  achievements  must  be  done. 

Our  Alma  Mater  sends  a  proper  son ;  — 

To  sound  the  solemn  depths  of  law  divine. 

Or  set  in  truer  phrase  each  sacred  line, 

To  punish  crime,  to  solve  a  railway  tangle. 

Or  do  brave  battle  at  the  Bloody  Angle, 


CENTENNIAL  VERSES  219 

To  fill  all  parts  in  life's  great  melodrama, 
To  govern  states,  or  teach  a  nation  grammar, 
To  grapple  boldly  every  human  ill, 
*Tis  Middlebury  always  fills  the  bill ! 


GROUP   THE   FOURTH,  1 860-1 880 

Like  a  storm  swooping  down  on  a  landscape  serene, 

The  approach  of  grim  war  casts  a  gloom  on  the  scene. 

Thrust  aside  are  the  Muses  and  tasks  academic, 

For  the  turmoil  of  stern  preparations  polemic. 

Vowing  Freedom  should  wear  without  blemish  her  crown. 

Forth  they  marched  with  the  song  and  the  soul  of  John 

Brown ! 
Marched  away  —  many  a  one  —  who  returned  not  again. 
But  whose  names,  glory-crowned,  swell  the  roll  of  the  slain. 
And  those  names  ne'er  shall  lack  our  warm  tribute  of  tears, 
Though  now  dimly  discerned  'neath  the  dust  of  the  years. 
With  great  gaps  in  its  ranks,  where  the  bravest  were  gone, 
Through  the  following  years  still  the  column  moved  on. 
By  the  courage  and  faith  of  the  faithful  and  few. 
Amid  perils  and  gloom  it  was  guided  safe  through. 
Alma  Mater  her  Parker  holds  dear  to  her  heart. 
Who,  her  sentinel  staunch,  watched  the  darkness  depart. 
Could  she  waver  or  flinch  at  the  stormiest  fate, 
When  her  veteran  warrior  was  Cyrus  the  Great? 


GROUP  THE   FIFTH,  1880-1900 

Lo  !  with  motion  animated. 
Tripping  gaily  o'er  the  stage, 

Going  fast,  as  tho'  belated. 
Now  appears  the  modern  age. 


220  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

Age  that  seems  almost  demonic, 

Flashing  incandescent  jets ; 
Age  electro-telephonic, 

Age  of  bikes  and  cigarettes  ! 

Alma  Mater  feels  the  movement, 
Glows  with  warmer  life  and  hope, 

Thrills  with  progress  and  improvement, 
Looks  abroad  with  wider  scope. 

E'en  the  fossil  rhynchonella 

Has  to  hear  of  Kellogg's  grammar, 

And  beneath  his  stone  umbrella 
Quakes  in  fear  of  Seely's  hammer ! 

Blessings  fall  in  fuller  measure 

Into  Alma  Mater's  hand ; 
In  her  storehouse  richer  treasure, 

Fairer  halls  about  her  stand. 

Some  men  swear  by  Jove  or  Juno, 
Some  by  Venus,  some  by  Mars, 

But  our  Alma  Mater,  —  you  know  — 
Says,  quite  simply,  "  Bless  my  Starrs  !  " 

Bless  those  orbs  that  round  them  cluster, 

Still  diffusing  rays  divine, 
Lending  literature  new  lustre, 

Setting  science  in  her  shrine  ! 

Alma  Mater,  in  confusion. 

Thought  her  children  all  were  brothers. 
That  was  but  a  great  delusion ; 

Now  she  finds  that  there  are  others,  — 


CENTENNIAL   VERSES  221 

Other  forms  and  other  faces, 

Such  as  ancient  poets  tell  us 
Once  adorned  the  classic  Graces 

Or  the  Muses  of  fair  Hellas. 

Alma  Mater  —  all  the  sweeter  — 

Now  a  broader  flag  unfurls, 
Makes  humanity  completer, 

Treats  alike  her  boys  and  girls ! 

The  five-fold  column  disappears. 

A  moment,  now,  the  stage  is  bare. 
Yet  many  another  hundred  years 

Shall  follow  after,  still  more  fair; 
And  truth  divine,  inspirer  of  the  past. 
Shall  light  their  progress  while  the  ages  last. 


THE    LUNCHEON 

THE  luncheon  was  served  in  the  Centennial 
Building  at  the  close  of  the  exercises  in 
the  church.     The  assembly  having  been 
called   to  order,  prayer  was  offered   by   Professor 
Charles    M.   Mead,    D.D.,  '56,   who   officiated    as 
chaplain. 


o 


PROFESSOR   MEAD'S  PRAYER 

GOD  of  our  fathers,  we  thank  Thee  that 
Thou  didst  put  it  into  their  hearts  to  found 
this  College.  We  thank  Thee  for  what  we  and 
others  with  us  and  before  us  have  received  here  of 
instruction,  of  culture,  of  discipline,  of  spiritual 
stimulus,  of  pleasure  and  precious  fellowship.  We 
thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  permitted  us  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  festivities  of  this  memorable  day. 
And  now,  on  this  last  great  day  of  the  feast,  as  we 
are  assembled  together  to  partake  of  this  repast 
of  body  and  spirit  that  Thy  bounty  has  provided, 
we  pray  that  Thy  benediction  may  rest  upon  us 
all :  upon  the  president  of  this  school  of  learn- 
ing; upon  its  instructors,  its  students,  its  alumni, 
and  its  friends.  Sanctify  to  us  the  joys  and  privi- 
leges of  the  past;  fulfill,  we  pray  Thee,  our  hopes 


THE  LUNCHEON  223 

for  the  future,  and  let  Thy  name  have  the  praise 
forevermore.     Amen. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  dinner,  the  chairman, 
Hon.  John  W.  Stewart,  said:  — 
Fellow  Alumni,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Honored  Guests  : 

IT  is  a  fitting  close  of  the  great  anniversary 
which  we  have  so  pleasantly  celebrated,  that 
we  gather  in  this  festival.  I  have  no  time,  and 
less  inclination,  to  make  an  extended  prefatory 
address.  It  is  proper,  however,  that  I  should  say 
that  this  is  a  day  of  rejoicing  and  reunion ;  a  day 
of  good-fellowship ;  a  day  of  brotherhood ;  a  day  of 
sisterhood;  a  day  of  fatherhood  and  sonship,  of 
friendship  and  harmony. 

It  is  a  happy  thing  that  some  assemblies  are 
possible  in  this  day  and  generation,  where  there 
are  no  differences  of  sentiment;  where  we  are 
all  at  one  —  perfectly  agreed.  Whatever  we  may 
think  of  the  higher  criticism,  about  which  some 
of  my  friends  differ,  we  are  all  agreed  upon  the 
higher  education.  And  whatever  we  may  think 
of  the  Westminster  Confession,  we  are  all  agreed 
that  the  perpetuity  of  the  institutions  of  this  gov- 
ernment, and  its  security,  rest  upon  the  education 
of  the  people  of  this  country.  So  here  we  are 
all  at  one. 

I  rejoice  that  I  am  permitted  to  welcome  you, 
and  I  am  particularly  gratified  that  I  stand  some- 


2  24  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

what  in  the  place  of  the  so-called  speaker,  who  is 
called  speaker  by  courtesy,  because  he  does  not 
speak,  but  is  the  organ  or  instrument  by  which 
others  are  brought  to  speak.  It  is  my  happy 
fortune  that  I  can  call  upon  my  brethren  some- 
what liberally  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left, 
and  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you 
the  honored  Governor  of  the  State  of  Vermont, 
a  man  of  large  affairs,  a  man  very  busy  with  the 
interests  that  have  been  committed  to  his  charge, 
but  a  man  never  forgetful  of  the  greater  interests 
of  the  Commonwealth  which  centre  around  the 
institutions  of  learning  of  this  State.  I  introduce 
to  you  His  Excellency,  Governor  Smith. 


GOVERNOR  SMITH'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  Toastmaster,  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

IF  there  is  ever  a  time  when  I  regret  that  the 
lines  of  my  educational  life  were  cast  in  other 
directions  than  the  universities  of  this  State,  it 
is  upon  these  occasions  when  I  am  invited  to 
take  part  in  their  commencement  exercises.  It  is 
especially  so  to-day,  to  me,  as  my  term  runs  out, 
and  I  have  been  permitted  simply  to  join  unoffi- 
cially in  the  exercises  of  the  day,  in  the  conferring 
of  degrees,  in  the  songs  and  laughter. 

But  I  take  some  consolation,  and  a  great  deal 
of  pleasure,  in   the   fact  that   I   can  congratulate 


THE   LUNCHEON  225 

you  upon  having  a  president  worthy  of  the  name ; 
one  who  has  built  up  an  institution,  and  has  main- 
tained its  character  and  its  standing.  Through  him 
I  insist  that  I  am  Hnked  to  Middlebury  College, 
and  if  I  am  not  an  alumnus,  I  am  just  as  near  it 
as  blood  relationship  can  make  me. 

It  had  been  my  intention  to  make,  in  the  few  re- 
marks that  I  was  assigned  to  deliver,  a  suggestion 
in  regard  to  the  relation  of  the  larger  colleges  of  this 
country  to  the  smaller  ones,  and  to  predict,  as  far 
as  I  might  in  the  time  that  was  allotted  to  me,  the 
future  of  the  small  college  in  relation  to  the  larger 
one;  and  I  had  intended  to  show  that  in  my  judg- 
ment the  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when,  with  the 
expansion  and  development  of  the  wealth  of  this 
country,  and  the  multiplying  of  the  people  who  seek 
the  higher  education,  there  will  be  competition 
among  them,  and  that  the  laws  of  competition  will 
ultimately  force  the  smaller  colleges  either  into  other 
directions  and  other  channels  of  thought,  or  out  of 
the  business  altogether.  I  had  intended  to  offer  the 
suggestion  that  the  smaller  colleges  of  this  country 
are  destined  to  be  crowded  out  by  the  larger  ones  so 
far  as  diversified  education  is  concerned ;  and  that  the 
smaller  ones  will  go  or  be  led  into  specialties,  such 
as  obtain  in  professions  in  various  ways,  wherever 
there  is  an  aggregation  of  wealth.  And  I  had  in- 
tended to  say  that  I  believe  the  principles  which 
underlie  this  College  will  crowd  it  into  some  spe- 
15 


226  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

cialty,  or  will  put  it  into  the  van  of  the  universi- 
ties. But  I  have  felt  that  for  two  reasons  the  time 
is  too  short  to  do  it,  or  even  to  dwell  upon  it.  One 
reason  is,  that  after  an  absence  of  twenty-five  years 
from  my  friend  Carter,  who  taught  me  German,  at 
whose  feet  I  sat  and  imbibed  the  knowledge  that  he 
gave  us,  the  force  of  habit  is  still  so  great  that  ever 
since  I  came  into  his  presence  I  have  tried  to  con- 
jugate all  the  German  verbs,  and  to  repeat  all  the 
German,  I  could  think  of.  And,  again,  although 
this  meeting  is  called  to  celebrate  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  College,  I  judge  from 
the  number  of  speakers  that  if  each  were  to  take 
all  the  time  that  I  think  I  ought  to  have,  we  would 
be  celebrating  the  next  Centennial  before  we  are 
through  with  this. 

Mr.  Stewart:  We  had  been  promised  the  at- 
tendance of  the  honored  President  of  Harvard 
University,  but  an  important  engagement  inter- 
vened, so  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  come. 
I  am  happy,  however,  to  say  that  we  have  a  repre- 
sentative of  that  university  which,  although  located 
in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  belongs  to  the  coun- 
try and  the  world.  It  is  too  large  for  Massachu- 
setts; its  influence  is  too  wide.  It  is  the  university 
of  the  country;  and  I  take  great  pleasure  in  in- 
troducing to  you  Professor  Wright  of  Harvard 
University. 


THE   LUNCHEON  22/ 

PROFESSOR  WRIGHT'S   SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

1  APPEAR  before  you  this  afternoon  in  a  double 
capacity,  but  chiefly  in  a  representative  one,  on 
behalf  of  Harvard  University:  I  bring  you  the  greet- 
ing of  President  Eliot  personally,  and  at  his  request 
the  greetings  of  the  ancient  college. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  Middlebury  College,  the 
missionary  college,  to  know  that  Harvard  Univer- 
sity itself  is  engaged  at  this  moment,  and  will  be 
engaged  throughout  a  large  part  of  the  summer, 
in  a  combination  of  home  and  foreign  missionary 
work.  Finding  it  impossible  to  send  the  university 
to  Cuba,  we  have  invited  Cuba  to  come  to  the  uni- 
versity, and  this  very  day  President  Eliot  is  engaged 
in  setting  going  the  Cuban  summer  school.  This 
morning  he  was  to  meet  the  Cuban  teachers  and  to 
start  them  in  their  studies.  It  has  therefore  been 
impossible  for  him  to  be  present  in  person  on  this 
occasion. 

I  should  like  to  take  this  opportunity,  first,  to 
make  one  or  two  remarks  which  are  suggested  in 
part  by  the  position  that  I  occupy  at  Cambridge, — 
that  of  Dean  of  the  Graduate  School, — but  more 
especially  by  some  things  that  were  said  yesterday. 
As  President  Tucker  then  pointed  out,  with  the 
vast  increase  of  new  studies,  and  the  adoption  of 
these  studies  into  the  smaller  colleges  of  the  coun- 


2  28  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

try,  a  considerable  amount  of  instruction  is  provided 
in  these  colleges  which,  in  a  given  institution,  it  is 
impossible  for  all  the  students  to  assimilate,  or  even 
in  many  cases  to  take  any  advantage  of.  This  in- 
struction is  primarily  of  an  advanced  character,  and 
is  instruction  that  has  grown  up  perfectly  naturally 
in  the  college.  It  is  the  instruction  in  which,  to  a 
great  extent,  the  teachers  find  the  greatest  satisfac- 
tion. For  while  the  true  teacher  finds  a  sufficient 
satisfaction  in  introducing  his  pupils  into  the  ele- 
ments of  learning  and  science,  he  always  finds  an 
overmastering  delight  in  making  them  masters 
thereof.  The  instruction  thus  provided  is  in  vari- 
ous departments  of  intellectual  activity,  —  philoso- 
phy, history,  literature,  language,  science,  —  and,  as 
I  have  already  said,  it  is  impossible  for  all  the  stu- 
dents to  make  all  of  it  their  own  while  they  are  yet 
undergraduates ;  but  by  the  provision  of  opportuni- 
ties for  students  to  remain  at  college  for  a  year  or 
two  after  they  have  received  the  Bachelor's  degree, 
these  men  and  women  may  be  enabled  to  avail 
themselves  of  this  body  of  instruction  and  to  con- 
tinue their  studies,  each  in  some  special  line,  until 
they  shall  have  become  masters  in  some  one  depart- 
ment. For  such  persons  an  appropriate  recognition 
of  this  work  on  the  part  of  their  college  is  the  de- 
gree of  Master  of  Arts;  and  the  resident  graduates 
who  are  candidates  for  this  degree  form  in  each 
college  a  healthful  and  vivifying  nucleus  from  which 


THE   LUNCHEON  229 

issue  the  men  and  women  whose  life  is  to  be  de- 
voted to  scholarship,  and  from  whom  ultimately, 
after  they  shall  have  duly  continued  their  prepara- 
tion, the  teaching  staff  of  the  college  shall  be  re- 
cruited. It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  behold  that 
in  all  of  the  smaller  colleges  this  advanced  in- 
struction is  gaining  in  recognition  and  popularity. 
We  see  it  in  the  increasing  number  of  w^ell-fitted 
men  who  enter  the  Graduate  Schools  of  the  larger 
universities. 

The  second  topic  upon  which  I  wish  to  make 
brief  comment  is  that  of  the  moral  tone  and  char- 
acter of  the  student  body,  —  of  the  American  col- 
lege student. 

At  Commencement  last  week  in  Cambridge,  Pro- 
fessor Briggs,  the  Dean  of  Harvard  College,  received 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws ;  and  when  this  dis- 
tinction was  conferred  there  was  an  extraordinary 
exhibition  of  approbation  such  as  made  the  day  an 
ever-memorable  one  for  all  who  were  present.  The 
reason  for  this  expression  of  feeling  you  will  partly 
infer  from  the  language  used  by  the  President  in 
conferring  the  degree :  "  Le  Baron  Russell  Briggs, 
well-beloved  Dean  of  Harvard  College,  patient,  ten- 
der, discerning,  candid,  just,  and  cheering,  because 
convinced  of  the  overwhelming  predominance  of 
good  in  the  student  world." 

At  Harvard  University,  of  course,  there  are  all 
elements,  and  there  are  all  sorts  of  elements  in  every 


230  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

college  and  university ;  but  I  beg  you  to  remember 
that  when  there  is  a  special  outburst  of  boyishness 
which  violates  good  taste  and  good  morals,  the  stu- 
dent body  often  takes  note  of  it  and  visits  with  con- 
dign punishment  the  perpetrators  of  the  offence. 
Thus  the  painters  of  the  statue  of  John  Harvard 
were  drummed  out  of  the  university  by  the  students, 
not  by  the  Faculty.  We  should  not  judge  the  stu- 
dent body  as  a  whole  by  the  escapades  of  a  very 
small  fraction.  In  every  college  the  students  are 
for  the  most  part  highly  honorable  men,  whose 
ideals  are  above  those  of  the  average  young  man 
in  the  community,  and  in  every  healthy  institution 
the  Faculty  have  no  more  efficient  supporters  in 
maintaining  high  standards  of  morals  and  of  char- 
acter than  the  students. 

Early  in  the  century,  President  Timothy  Dwight 
of  Yale  visited  Middlebury  College,  and  he  put  into 
his  diary  the  statement  that  he  doubted  whether  a 
more  virtuous  body  of  men  could  be  found  in  the 
country  than  w^as  here  gathered.  This  I  see  now 
provokes  a  smile ;  but  if  President  Hadley  were 
here  to-day,  and  were  to  translate  this  sentiment 
into  the  language  of  the  present,  it  would  be  to  the 
effect  that  there  is  no  finer  set  of  young  men  in  the 
country,  cleaner  and  manlier,  than  the  normal  col- 
lege students.  And  this  is  true  not  only  of  Middle- 
bury  College,  but  of  the  University  of  Vermont,  of 
Dartmouth,  and  of  the  larger  institutions.     It  is 


THE   LUNCHEON  23 1 

because  the  young  men  who  come  to  our  colleges 
and  universities  are  exceptional  men  that  their  esca- 
pades, especially  the  most  frivolous,  attract  public 
attention ;  but  we  should  not  forget  with  it  all  that 
as  college  students  surpass  other  men  in  their  op- 
portunities, they  in  the  main  surpass  them  in  their 
qualities. 

When  Saint  Paul  came  to  Rome,  we  are  told  that 
the  brethren  went  out  to  meet  him  at  Appii  Forum 
and  the  Three  Taverns,  and  that  when  he  saw  them 
he  thanked  God  and  took  courage.  So  you,  apostles 
of  Middlebury's  culture,  when  you  come  back  to  the 
place  whence  you  drew  your  inspiration,  and  see 
what  has  been  done  in  the  past  and  what  is  now 
being  done,  may  well  thank  God  and  take  courage 
for  the  future,  not  only  of  your  beloved  college,  but 
of  the  country. 

Mr.  Stewart:  We  had  a  like  assurance  from 
President  Hadley  that  he  would  be  present  on  this 
occasion,  representing  Yale  University,  but  unfor- 
tunately he  has  been  detained  by  illness  in  his 
family.  We  are  fortunate  in  having  a  representa- 
tive of  that  institution,  and  it  is  perhaps  proper  and 
interesting  that  I  should  say  what  may  not  be 
known  to  all  of  you,  that  Middlebury  is  the  child  of 
Yale.  The  first  suggestion  of  the  founding  of  Mid- 
dlebury College  came  from  the  first  visit  of  Presi- 
dent Dwight,  and  it  was  by  the  inspiration  of  his 


232  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

words,  and  his  advice,  that  the  good  men  of  that 
time  undertook  to  establish,  and  founded,  this 
College. 

The  gentleman  whom  I  shall  present  to  you  is  a 
son  of  Eli,  and  while  he  may  claim  some  advantage 
from  that,  we  can  say,  I  think  with  equal  truth,  that 
we  are  the  grandsons  of  Eli.  He  is  also  a  son  of 
Middlebury,  because  his  father  was  an  honored 
graduate  of  this  College,  and  at  one  time  its  presi- 
dent. I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Pro- 
fessor  KiTCHEL. 

REV.   CORNELIUS  L.   KITCHEUS  SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

IT  gives  me  great  pleasure  on  this  occasion  to 
bear  the  greetings  of  Yale  University  to  Middle- 
bury.  I  could  have  wished  that  our  honored  presi- 
dent might  have  brought  the  message  in  person. 
It  is  with  deep  regret  that  President  Hadley  is  not 
here ;  deep  regret  to  himself,  and  I  am  sure  it  is  a 
matter  of  regret  to  you.  It  almost  seems  as  if  I 
ought  not  to  be  glad  to  be  here  myself,  but  I  can 
not  help  saying  that  it  is  with  the  greatest  satisfac- 
tion I  am  enjoying  the  pleasures  of  this  occasion. 
I  feel  like  a  little  girl  of  my  acquaintance,  about  six 
years  old,  who  had  been  put  to  bed  when  a  dinner 
party  was  going  on  downstairs.  When  she  heard 
the  sounds  of  revelry,  she  got  up  and  went  down 
and  had  a  splendid  time,  and  when  her  mother  took 


THE   LUNCHEON  233 

her  to  task  she  said,  "  Iknow  I  am  bad,  but  I  am 
glad  of  it."  So  I  am  glad  I  am  here  to-day.  Per- 
haps I  should  say  I  am  glad  for  myself,  and  sorry 
for  you. 

I  am  glad  because  I  do  not  feel  a  stranger  here 
to-day.  Although  Yale  College  and  Middlebury 
College  are  separated  geographically,  occupying  as 
they  do  the  remote  corners  of  New  England,  yet 
they  have  been  so  intimately  associated  in  their 
history,  and  their  ideals  and  aims  are  so  similar, 
that  no  alumnus  of  Yale  can  feel  a  stranger  in  this 
place. 

Another  reason  I  am  glad  is  because  I  want  to 
get  some  suggestions  and  some  ideas  as  to  "  how  to 
do  it."  Ninety-nine  years  ago  we  celebrated  a  cen- 
tennial, but  how  we  did  it  we  have  pretty  much 
forgotten.  As  the  Governor  of  North  Carolina 
said  to  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  "  It  is  a 
long  time  between  "  —  centennials.  But  I  suppose 
next  year  we  have  got  to  celebrate  our  bicentennial, 
and  you  will  forgive  me  if  I  keep  my  eyes  and  ears 
open  to  see  how  you  do  it.  I  have  already  ob- 
tained several  ideas.  One  I  shall  most  surely  sug- 
gest to  our  bicentennial  committee,  —  that  is,  if 
possible,  to  secure  just  such  another  lot  of  alumni, 
in  quality,  as  you  have  succeeded  in  doing  at  Mid- 
dlebury. I  remember  hearing  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
say,  in  a  lecture  on  "Success  in  Life,"  that  if  a  man 
wanted  to  be  successful  in  life,  he  ought,  first  of  all, 


234  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

to  make  a  judicious  selection  of  his  parents;  and  I 
think  if  a  university  wants  to  succeed  in  celebrating 
its  centennial,  it  ought  to  be  judicious,  as  you  have 
been,  in  selecting  its  alumni. 

I  presume  you  have  seen  in  the  public  prints  an 
analysis  of  the  list  of  the  alumni  of  Middlebury 
College  for  the  last  century.  I  will  simply  say  I 
have  read  it  with  wonder  and  delight.  I  do  not  see 
how  that  record  can  well  be  matched.  Such  a 
number  of  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  missionaries 
of  the  Cross,  and  presidents  of  universities  and 
colleges,  and  senators,  and  governors,  and  others 
conspicuous  in  church  and  state,  —  I  will  honestly 
say  that  I  do  not  believe  our  record  for  our  two 
centuries  will  be,  in  quality,  equal  to  that. 

One  reason  for  this  is  because,  it  seems  to  me, 
Middlebury  has  had  an  advantage  over  larger  insti- 
tutions in  the  stuff  you  have  had  to  work  with.  I 
think  that  the  Vermont  boy,  as  he  has  come  up 
from  his  country  home  nestling  amid  your  moun- 
tains, is  about  as  good  stuff  for  a  university  to  make 
a  record  of  its  alumni  with  as  could  well  be  had. 
Mr.  Chairman,  I  believe  in  young  men  who  have 
their  futures  before  them  and  not  behind  them,  — 
young  men  coming  from  frugal  homes,  —  homes  of 
frugal  abundance,  full  of  work,  full  of  energy,  with 
all  their  vitalities  untainted,  all  their  ambitions  un- 
sated  by  luxury  and  wealth,  —  such  is  the  stuff  out 
of  which  great  alumni  are  made.     Such  youth  have 


THE   LUNCHEON 


235 


ever  been  the  boast  of  Yale  University,  also  its  very- 
bone  and  sinew.  The  best  material  we  have  and 
have  ever  had  is  the  poor  boys  who  come  to  us, 
and  out  of  them  our  best  men  are  fashioned.  I 
have  thought  there  was  a  certain  likeness  in  that 
material  to  the  marble  which  you  dig  out  of  your 
mountains.  It  is  good  stuff  to  work  at.  It  pays 
for  the  toil  you  put  upon  it.  It  takes  a  pohsh,  and 
when  the  structure  is  done,  wherever  you  set  it, 
there  it  stands,  age  long,  resplendent  and  enduring. 

Another  reason  why  it  seems  to  me  that  your  list 
of  alumni  is  so  superior,  is  the  quality  of  the  tuition 
and  the  administration  which  you  have  enjoyed  in 
Middlebury.  I  am  sure  you  will  forgive  me  if  I  say 
that  I  know  from  personal  observation  what  was  the 
patience,  the  energy,  the  wdsdom,  the  faith  which 
was  put  into  one  decade  of  that  administration, 
and  I  am  sure  into  all  the  rest. 

It  is  the  fate  of  the  college  teacher  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  work  not  at  once.  He  sits  in  his  chair 
in  his  lecture-room,  and  the  stream  of  youth  pass 
before  him.  He  utters  his  message  and  they  go, 
passing  on  and  out  into  the  world  and  its  activities, 
when  he  has  seen  little  more  than  the  beginnings  of 
the  work  he  has  wTought  upon  them.  Sometimes 
he  almost  feels  like  the  poet  who  said :  "  I  have 
writ  my  name  in  water."  But  when  the  decades 
are  fulfilled,  and  the  great  "round  up"  of  the  cen- 
tury comes,  then  the  patient  teacher  has  at  last 


236  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

his  hour  of  triumph.  To-day,  you  of  Middlebury 
College  are  "  returning,  bearing  your  sheaves  with 
you."  And  it  is  my  faith  to  believe  that  those  who 
labored  in  this  place  in  earlier  days,  who  have  gone 
to  their  rest,  though  we  see  them  not,  are  yet  with  us. 
We  cannot  hear  their  voices  with  the  ear  of  sense, 
yet  we  may  with  the  ear  of  the  spirit,  as  they,  too,  join 
with  us  in  our  song  of  joy  and  our  hymns  of  triumph. 
In  closing,  may  I  offer  this  sentiment :  Middle- 
bury  College,  —  may  she  go  on  in  other  centuries  to 
do  like  work  to  that  which  she  has  done  in  this. 

Mr.  Stewart  :  The  University  of  Vermont  and 
Middlebury  College.  It  is  a  matter  of  extreme 
gratification  to  me  that  under  the  administration  of 
our  honored  guest.  President  Buckham,  and  the 
administration  of  our  honored  President  Brainerd, 
the  relation  between  these  two  colleges  has  become 
that  of  cordial,  friendly  cooperation  in  the  great 
work  of  education.  There  is  no  rivalry  between  us 
except  that  which  comes  from  a  generous  desire  on 
the  part  of  each  to  do  its  best  for  the  country.  I 
introduce  to  you  President  Buckham. 

PRESIDENT   MATTHEW   H.  BUCKHAM'S   SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow  Alumni  of  Middlebury  College: 

FOR  the  last  two  days,  during  these  most  de- 
lightful exercises  of  your  Centennial,  I  have 
been  watching  and  listening  with  a  mingled  feeling 


THE   LUNCHEON  237 

of  admiration  and  envy.  Now,  by  the  kindness, 
Mr.  Chairman,  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of 
Middlebury  College,  you  have  taken  away  from  me 
all  this  feeling  of  envy,  and  have  left  with  me  the 
feeling  of  admiration,  adding  to  it  a  delightful  sense 
of  fellowship  and  participation  with  you. 

But  this  is  not  the  first  expression  of  good-will 
between  Middlebury  College  and  the  University  of 
Vermont.  I  do  not  know  that  it  would  do  any 
harm  for  me  to  divulge  on  this  occasion  a  little  his- 
tory which  very  few  of  you  probably  have  heard  of. 
Several  years  ago,  in  the  attempt  which  was  made 
to  unite  Middlebury  College  and  the  University, 
the  University  made  overtures  to  Middlebury  Col- 
lege by  the  intimation  to  one  of  your  trustees  and 
former  professors,  George  N.  Boardman,  that  if  he 
would  accept  the  situation,  our  trustees  would  make 
him  President  of  the  University  of  Vermont.  But 
as  he  did  not  accept,  you  put  upon  us  a  return 
courtesy,  and  it  was  intimated  to  me  that  if  I  would 
accept  the  situation  I  might  be  President  of  Middle- 
bury College. 

To  make  sure  there  was  no  mistake  about  that, 
and  also  to  get  my  heart  warmed  up  towards  Mid- 
dlebury College,  before  I  left  home  yesterday  morn- 
ing I  looked  up  the  correspondence  and  found  that 
my  memory  was  correct.  So  now,  brethren,  you 
see  what  an  honor  I  have  lost,  and  what  a  merciful 
escape  you  had.    But  I  am  sure  it  is  better  as  it  is. 


238  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

I  want  to  congratulate  my  brother  Brainerd,  and 
all  the  trustees  of  Middlebury  College,  that  they 
will  never  have  to  wrestle  hereafter  with  the  prob- 
lem of  uniting  the  two  colleges.  It  was  an  original 
mistake  to  have  the  two,  but  we  can  never  say  which 
should  go  out.  Now,  when  both  institutions  are  a 
hundred  years  old,  the  thought  of  transplanting  one 
of  them  is  so  absurd  that  no  president  or  trustee 
will  ever  have  occasion  to  tackle  that  problem 
again. 

I  want  to  congratulate  the  friends  of  Middlebury 
College  on  two  or  three  things.  I  want  to  con- 
gratulate you  on  your  history.  It  seems  to  me  the 
best  treasury  of  any  college  is  its  history.  All 
these  college  presidents  will  sympathize  with  me 
when  I  say  that  the  pressing  problem  with  us  is  the 
financial  one.  But  I  would  like  to  ask  you,  gen- 
tlemen, as  trustees,  and  you,  as  president,  if  you 
were  offered  a  large  sum  of  money  on  condition 
that  you  would  give  up  the  history  of  Middlebury 
College,  and  give  away  the  inspiration  and  potency 
of  this  history,  if  you  would  take  the  sum  of  money 
as  an  equivalent.     Of  course  you  would  not. 

And  I  want  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  affec- 
tion of  your  alumni.  I  had  thought  that  the  love 
of  the  alumni  of  the  University  of  Vermont  was 
about  the  most  intimate  and  devoted  affection  that 
possibly  could  exist  between  a  body  of  alumni  and 
their  alma  mater.     But  what  I  have  witnessed  here, 


THE   LUNCHEON  239 

this  large  assemblage  from  all  parts  of  the  land,  the 
intense  and  unflagging  interest  in  all  these  pro- 
longed exercises,  the  enthusiastic  response  to  every 
appeal  to  your  loyalty  and  pride,  —  all  this  has  con- 
vinced me  that  you  also  have  your  full  share  of  this 
most  beautiful  and  most  honorable  sentiment  of 
affection  for  your  college.  And  now  that  you 
have  made  me  one  of  you,  you  have  given  me  the 
right  to  have,  to  a  certain  extent,  although  a  late 
comer,  the  same  feeling,  and  to  rejoice  with  you  in 
your  prosperity.  And  you  must  believe  me,  that 
the  honor  you  have  conferred  upon  me,  great  as 
it  is,  is  not  so  gratifying  as  is  the  expression  of 
your  good-will,  and  the  kindly  thought  of  the  insti- 
tution which  you  represent  towards  the  University 
of  Vermont. 

And  now  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  future. 
To  me  the  future  prosperity  of  Middlebury  College 
seems  just  as  secure  and  settled  as  is  the  noonday 
after  the  dawn.  It  is  coming ;  it  is  sure  to  come 
and  to  grow.  And  as  you  have  said,  and  I  echo 
the  sentiment  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  there 
shall  be  no  rivalry  between  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont and  Middlebury  College  hereafter  but  that 
generous  rivalry  by  which  we  shall  provoke  each 
other  to  love  and  good  works. 

Mr.  Stewart:  President  Hopkins,  of  blessed 
memory,  the  great  President  of  Williams  College, 


240  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

is  said  to  have  said  many  years  ago,  that  he  hoped 
to  bring  Williams  up  to  the  standard  of  Middlebury. 
I  had  the  pleasure  to  be  in  Williamstown  about  the 
time  of  their  anniversary  last  year,  and  in  looking 
about,  although  I  did  not  interview  President  Car- 
ter or  anybody  else,  I  was  an  observer,  and  I  was 
satisfied  from  appearances  that  President  Hopkins, 
if  he  had  then  lived,  —  in  fact  he  did  live  to  see 
his  hope  more  than  realized,  —  would  have  been 
gratified.  We  all  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  of  Wil- 
liams, even  if  she  has  surpassed  us.  She  has  done 
a  magnificent  work,  and  it  is  with  great  pleasure 
that  I  am  able  to  present  to  you  President  Carter 
of  Williams  College,  who  delivered  yesterday  an 
admirable  address  which  you  all  ought  to  have 
heard. 

PRESIDENT   FRANKLIN   CARTER'S   SPEECH 

IT  may  not  be  within  the  knowledge  of  this  body 
of  alumni  that  when  the  line  was  run  which 
now  constitutes  the  line  between  Massachusetts  and 
Vermont,  by  a  deflection  of  the  needle  it  was  run 
two  miles  farther  north  than  it  should  have  been. 
Had  it  only  run  two  miles  farther  south,  Williams- 
town  would  have  been  in  Vermont.  Whether  Wil- 
liams College  would  then  have  been  Middlebury 
College,  or  Middlebury  College  would  have  been 
Williams  College,  I  am  not  able  to  say.  I  think  I 
am  safe  in  saying  that  Williams  College  would  not 


THE   LUNCHEON  241 

have  existed,  because  it  was  a  provision  in  the  will 
of  Ephraim  Williams  that  unless  that  town  should 
fall  within  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  Williams 
College,  or  the  academy  from  which  the  college 
grew,  should  not  be  founded.  Undoubtedly  if  Wil- 
liams College  had  not  existed,  Middlebury  College 
might  have  existed ;  but  as  it  is,  they  shine  together 
like  two  stars  in  the  firmament. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  congratulation  that  I,  as  a 
native  of  Connecticut  coming  into  Vermont,  find 
myself  so  much  at  home.  The  very  names  that 
were  familiar  to  my  boyhood  —  New  Haven,  Water- 
bury,  and  Middlebury — give  me  a  sense  of  home 
feeling. 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  both  Williams  and 
Middlebury  have  been  devoted  to  the  Bible.  It 
was  not  a  son  of  Middlebury,  it  was  not  a  son  of 
Williams  I  am  sure, — it  may  not  have  been  a  repub- 
lican, it  may  have  been  a  populist,  who,  upon  being 
asked  who  it  was  that  said  his  burden  was  more 
than  he  could  bear,  said  that  "  it  was  Agag  when 
he  was  hewn  in  pieces  before  the  Lord." 

I  have  a  single  word  to  say  about  the  loyalty 
which  alumni  show  to  their  college.  No  matter 
where  we  see  it,  it  is  an  evidence  that  he  who  cher- 
ishes it  is  not  without  noble  affections ;  and  it  is  as 
marked  in  the  son  of  the  small  college  as  in  the  son 
of  the  great  university.  Any  one  familiar  with  the 
history  of  these  lesser  colleges  knows  that  there  are 


242  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

men  in  their  alumni  who  love  to  show  the  greatest 
loyalty  to  the  common  centre  of  their  scholarly  life, 
and  to  that  organic  unity  which  we  call  the  col- 
lege. Any  one  who  has  watched  the  history  of  the 
smaller  colleges  cannot  fail  to  be  inspired  by  the 
record.  As  the  young  men  come  to  receive  greater 
respect  and  attain  higher  positions,  and  as  the  older 
men  pass  out  of  our  vision  into  the  great  reward, 
leaving  a  noble  record,  no  accurate  observer  can 
fail  to  feel  that  he  is  watching  the  sure  progressive 
growth  of  a  great  and  mighty  influence ;  and  if  he 
be  a  worthy  son  of  the  college,  his  heart  will  thrill 
with  joy  that  he  has  a  right  to  inherit  these  tradi- 
tions, and  to  have  a  share  in  the  ministrations  of 
his  college  to  the  service  of  humanity. 

The  university  snob  —  a  rare  creature,  thank  God 
—  sometimes  sneers  at  the  small  college,  and  the 
graduate  of  the  college  sometimes  thinks  that  he 
might  blush  for  the  homespun  which  his  college  is 
clothed  with ;  but  the  true  son  will  rejoice  to  see 
that  inner,  high,  and  invisible  glory,  the  glory  of 
self-sacrifice,  which  a  few  names  have  made  to  rest 
like  a  Shekinah  upon  the  altar  of  his  worship. 

There  is  an  epigram  current  in  England  that  the 
Oxford  graduate  looks  as  if  the  world  belonged  to 
him,  and  that  the  Cambridge  graduate  looks  as 
though  he  did  n't  care  to  whom  the  world  did  be- 
long. I  don't  know  that  there  is  any  real  signifi- 
cance in  this  analysis.    But  the  graduate  of  the  New 


THE   LUNCHEON  243 

England  college  is  a  modest  man,  and  looks  neither 
as  if  the  world  belonged  to  him,  nor  as  if  he  did  n't 
care  to  whom  the  world  belonged ;  he  looks,  as  w^e 
have  seen  him,  in  lofty  and  lowly  positions,  as  if  he 
belonged  to  the  world,  and  was  in  the  world  to 
make  it  better. 

Mr.  President,  in  the  sure  certitude  of  this  fellow- 
ship, the  sons  of  Williams  greet  to-day  the  sons  of 
Middlebury. 

I  do  not  know  whether  the  story  which  I  have 
heard  is  true  or  not,  but  it  is  said  that  in  the  revival 
of  missionary  zeal  in  our  college,  a  young  man 
came  to  this  college  in  its  infancy  and  spent  a  year 
here  that  he  might  revive  its  missionary  spirit. 
But  whether  the  story  be  fable  or  truth,  it  is  the 
sympathy  of  purpose  that  has  caused  the  sons  of 
Williams  to  wish  for  the  sons  of  Middlebury,  and 
for  this  College,  the  same  fidelity  to  God's  love 
that  has  made  the  last  century  glorious ;  and  they 
ask  for  this  College  that  it  may  have  the  amplest 
resources  in  order  that  that  fidelity  may  contribute 
even  more  efficiently  in  the  future  than  it  has  in 
the  past,  to  the  uplifting,  and  the  blessing,  and  the 
redemption  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men. 

Mr.  Stewart:  We  had  a  letter  of  regret  from 
President  Stryker  of  Hamilton  College,  but  we 
have  a  representative  from  that  institution  to  which 
we   once   sent   a   president,  —  President   Davis,  — 


244  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

with  us  to-day,  and  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing 
to  you  the  Rev.  Dr.  Winslow. 


DOCTOR  WILLIAM   C.   WINSLOW'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

MY  commission  is  brevity  itself.  Your  hon- 
ored President,  Ezra  Brainerd,  wonderfully 
blends  the  two  qualities  which  make  a  man  equally 
dogmatic  and  winsome.  When  I  met  him  yester- 
day, for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  he  quietly  touched 
me  on  the  shoulder,  smiled  benignantly,  and  said 
he  had  heard  from  Hamilton  College ;  adding,  with 
a  will  greater  than  mine,  "  Say  just  a  word  or  two 
to-morrow  at  the  luncheon."  A  word  or  two !  It 
naturally  means  multum  in  parvo  —  I  fear,  very 
little  in  my  case.  But  what  can  you  say  in  a  word 
or  two  at  the  birthday  festival  of  one  so  loved  and 
honored  as  is  Middlebury  ? 

I  am  introduced  as  of  Hamilton  College ;  but  I 
am  not  even  a  non-commissioned  officer  of  that 
noble  institution  ;  I  am  one  of  her  sons,  however, 
and  although  not  affiliated  with  any  college,  yet  in 
my  way  as  archaeologist  I  dig  up  Egyptian  roots 
rather  more  than  Greek  roots,  and  try  to  advance 
the  cause  which  seeks  after  buried  knowledge  relat- 
ing to  the  classical  past  and  perhaps  to  Adam,  and 
the  beginning  of  education,  when  Adam  began  to 
talk,  —  or,  rather,  Eve  instructed  him  in  that  art. 


THE   LUNCHEON  245 

But  I  must  take  care  of  my  minute  or  two,  and 
remember  how  it  was  with  the  mummies.  Were 
they  not  pressed  for  time  ?     So  am  I. 

In  a  word,  I  bring  you  hearty  greetings  from 
Hamilton.  I  am  sure  you  will  deplore  with  me 
that  my  college-mate,  Secretary  Root,  of  Washing- 
ton, or  Senator  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  or  Charles 
Dudley  Warner,  could  not  be  here  to  congratulate 
you;  and,  above  all,  that  President  Stryker,  the 
Chrysostom  of  college  presidents,  is  not  here  with 
his  own  golden  words  to  hail  your  twice-golden 
birthday  of  one  hundred  years.  I  seem  to  hear  his 
voice,  however,  on  behalf  of  Hamilton,  coming  to 
us  from  the  heart  of  New  York  State,  over  the 
Mohawk  valley  and  across  Lake  Champlain,  as  the 
word  from  one  of  the  smaller  colleges  to  another 
one,  saying,  in  effect,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  the  day  of 
the  college  shall  never  pass  away!  The  Middle- 
burys,  Amhersts,  Williamses,  Hamiltons  have  a 
•  part  and  a  place  to  fill  as  much  as  have  the  old  and 
the  rich-new  universities.*'  You  see  I  believe  in 
colleges  —  my  educational  creed  — and  I  look  from 
my  own  height  to-day  over  the  "  Presidential 
Range "  before  me ;  following  after  some  of  the 
presidents,  speaking  before  others;  so  that  I  feel 
like  eulogizing  the  true  and  essential  work  which 
the  college  does,  whose  students  are  in  close  touch 
with  president  and  professor  as  well  as  instructor 
and  tutor. 


246  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

But  no ;  of  the  several  things  in  my  mind  inspired 
by  this  occasion,  I  will  say  that  I  am  a  convert  to- 
day, henceforth  and  forever,  to  coeducation.  I  up- 
hold the  Wellesleys,  Smiths,  Vassars,  Bryn  Mawr 
where  so  much  advanced  work  is  done;  but  as  a  result 
of  my  visit  here,  where  my  eyes  and  ears  are  wide 
open,  I  am  in  favor  of  coeducation.  The  Roman 
drama  performed  last  evening  so  admirably  by  the 
undergraduates  brilliantly  proves  that  a  college  of 
young  men  and  young  women  can  enact  a  drama 
which,  to  my  mind,  would  grace  Sanders'  Theatre 
of  Harvard  University.  I  seem  to  see  before  me 
now  that  beautiful  daughter  of  Cicero,  those  other 
daughters  of  Middlebury,  and  Cicero  himself,  so 
naturally  earnest,  Catiline,  so  brazen  and  yet  so 
abashed,  and  the  others,  too,  and  I  take  additional 
pride  in  Middlebury  and  stronger  belief  in  coedu- 
cation. 

Yes,  pride  in  Middlebury,  for  it  is  a  kind  of 
family  college,  as  my  uncle  Miron,  of  the  Class, 
of  181 5,  graduated  here,  and  my  father  here  en- 
tered the  Class  of  1825;  besides  which  the  family 
came  from  Williston,  where  and  elsewhere  in 
Vermont  I  often  go  to  snuff  your  glorious  Green 
Mountain  air ;  and,  among  other  connecting  links, 
I  am  on  the  roll  of  your  Vermont  Historical 
Society.  So  my  love  for  Middlebury  is  at  once 
natural  and  inspired  —  inspired  by  your  very  suc- 
cessful celebration. 


THE   LUNCHEON  247 

But  I  now  look  up  to  see  emblazoned  over  there 
your  cherished  motto,  Scientia  et  Virtus,  and  I  will 
wed  to  it  two  words  from  very  old  Egypt  —  older 
even  than  Heliopolis,  which  was  the  Middlebury 
College  of  Egypt,  where  Moses  graduated  in  cap  and 
gown;  Moses,  the  far-back  predecessor  of  Ezra. 
{Cries  of  'rah,  Wah,  'rah)  Rah,  by  the  way,  goes 
back  to  Egypt,  too.  Ra  was  the  god  of  the  rising 
sun,  and  is  most  fitting  for  a  rising  college  like 
yours  to  invoke.  I  refer  to  Memphis  now.  It 
got  its  name  from  men  and  nefer,  two  Egyptian 
words  standing  for  secure  and  beautiful.  And  so 
I  will  end  my  simple  but  heartfelt  remarks,  as  I 
once  more  recall  your  noble  motto,  with  this 
addition,  transmitted  to  us  through  thousands  of 
years:  May  Middlebury  College  forever  represent 
whatever  is  secure  in  character  and  beautiful  in 
every  form   of  culture. 

Mr.  Stewart:  We  have  a  representative  of  an- 
other institution,  and  a  very  useful  institution, 
one  that  has  been  adorned  for  some  years  by  two 
of  our  own  men.  Professor  Kellogg  and  Professor 
Sheldon;  and  such  an  institution  as  that  must 
have  done  good  work.  It  gives  me  great  pleasure 
to  present  to  you  the  president  of  that  institution, 
Dr.  Snow. 


248  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 


PRESIDENT    HENRY  S.   SNOW'S  SPEECH 

Mr.    Chairman,    Alumni    of    Middlebury    College,   Ladies 
AND  Gentlemen: 

IT  IS  a  very  great  pleasure  to  me  to  be  here  with 
you  in  Middlebury  on  this  occasion.  The  Poly- 
technic in  Brooklyn  owes  very  much  to  you  that 
you  have  sent  us  the  man  whose  eloquence, 
whose  profound  thought,  you  have  listened  to  with 
such  delight  during  the  present  week.  I  looked  up 
to  him  years  ago,  and  I  look  up  to  him  still,  as  my 
professor.  I  cherish  him  as  one  of  the  dearest  of  my 
friends,  and  I  am  more  and  more  thankful  for  every 
influence  in  Middlebury  which  made  him  what  he  is, 
and  which  may  have  sent  him  to  Brooklyn.  You 
have  also  given  us  Dr.  Samuel  Sheldon,  your 
talented  alumnus,  and  Professor  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neering, who  has  already  made  for  himself  a  promi- 
nent place  among  the  scientific  men  of  Brooklyn. 

It  has  been  an  inspiration  to  me,  coming,  too,  as 
I  do,  from  an  institution  hardly  half  as  old  as  your 
own,  to  witness  the  wonderful  gathering  of  alumni 
this  week,  and  the  enthusiasm  which  pervades  your 
air.  It  must  be  a  delight  as  well  as  an  inspiration  to 
the  officers  of  the  College  to  feel  it.  To  be  here  as 
an  unworthy  recipient  of  the  honors  which  you  have 
bestowed  upon  me  on  this  centennial  occasion  is  in- 
deed a  pleasure  which  I  recognize,  and  I  equally 
recognize  in  it  your  tribute  to  what  Middlebury  men 


THE   LUNCHEON  249 

have  done  for  other  colleges.  Perhaps  if  I  recognize 
the  way  to  render  service  in  the  cause  of  education, 
I  shall  be  better  able  to  stand  the  responsibility  and 
the  dignity. 

And  now,  what  shall  I  say  to  you,  gentlemen  of 
Middlebury,  and  ladies  of  Middlebury,  looking  forth 
upon  the  new  century  ?  I  doubt  not  the  future  of 
the  College  will  be  larger  than  the  past.  I  think  it 
stands  for  truth,  but  for  that  truth  which  recognizes 
that  so  much  of  it  as  man  has  yet  acquired  and 
proved  is  but  the  smallest  fragment;  that  the  great 
undiscovered  realm  of  truth  lies  before  and  not  be- 
hind us ;  and  that  he  who  would  dogmatically  plant 
himself  upon  the  little  that  man  has  yet  acquired, 
and  shut  his  eyes  to  the  vastness  of  the  future,  being 
contented  with  what  the  past  has  given,  would  be 
as  blind  as  would  Columbus  have  been,  had  he  sta- 
tioned himself  upon  the  West  Indian  island,  think- 
ing he  had  discovered  the  yet  undiscovered  country 
that  lay  beyond  the  sea. 

And  the  expression  that  I  have  heard  this  week 
from  the  College  stands  for  faith  in  the  triumph  of 
men ;  for  faith  in  the  power  and  ability  of  men  to 
grow ;  for  faith  in  the  power  of  men  to  subdue  the 
vast  forces  of  nature  to  their  service ;  for  that  faith 
which  rolls  on  with  every  additional  conquest  in 
the  world  of  science ;  for  the  conviction,  if  not  the 
perception,  of  the  reality  of  the  unseen  world,  —  the 
world  of  soul  and  spirit. 


250  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

I  wish  for  you  a  future  larger  than  your  past  has 
been,  and  that  the  College,  founded  upon  a  truth  as 
unshakable  as  the  mountains  that  look  down  upon 
Middlebury,  with  clearer  vision,  with  a  horizon  as 
boundless  as  that  overarched  by  the  blue  dome  from 
which  you  have  taken  the  colors  of  the  College, 
may  go  forward  in  the  labors  and  duties  of  the  new 
century  with  larger  hope  and  with  larger  success. 

Mr.  Stewart:  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to 
introduce  to  you,  as  the  next  speaker,  the  Rev. 
Byron  Sunderland,  of  Washington.  I  recollect 
that  when  I  was  a  lad  in  the  time  of  Saxe,  the 
poetic  sons  of  Middlebury  were  divided  between 
Saxe  and  Sunderland.  Saxe  was  in  the  Class  of 
'39,  and  Dr.  Sunderland  in  the  Class  of  '38.  It 
depended  on  your  mood  somewhat,  which  of  the 
two  poets  you  preferred.  Saxe  was  a  little  more 
funny ;  Dr.  Sunderland  was  a  little  more  sentimen- 
tal, and  possibly  poetic.  At  that  time  of  my  career, 
being  somewhat  in  a  sentimental  way,  my  bias  was 
rather  in  favor  of  Dr.  Sunderland.  Now,  we  want 
to  hear  a  word  from  my  good  friend.  He  labors 
under  a  severe  cold,  and  it  is  not  easy  for  him  to 
speak  at  all,  and  you  will  therefore  bear  with  that 
infirmity. 


THE   LUNCHEON  25 1 

DOCTOR  BYRON   SUNDERLAND'S  SPEECH 

NOW,  Mr.  Chairman,  what  on  earth  made  you 
invite  me  to  speak  to-day,  after  all  that  we 
have  heard  ?  These  gentlemen  have  gone  over  the 
whole  subject;  they  have  used  it  up,  and  there  is 
nothing  left  for  me  to  say. 

But  I  wish  to  tell  President  Brainerd  that  when 
he  read  out  that  peculiar  handle  to  my  name  this 
morning,  I  was  completely  overwhelmed.  I  wanted 
to  say  something  about  my  Alma  Mater ;  I  wanted 
to  express  my  joy  that  she  had  not  forgotten  me, 
and  to  say  that  it  was  still  my  prayer  that  she  should 
continue  to  be  more  and  more  in  the  future,  more 
illustrious  than  in  the  past. 

But  what  can  I  say  ?  A  man  comes  here  and  is 
overwhelmed  with  memories  and  thoughts.  I  have 
been  out  of  college  sixty-two  years,  and  where 
shall  I  set  in  and  where  shall  I  come  out.-^  But 
would  n't  it  have  been  a  pleasure  if  we  could  have 
had  James  D.  Butler  here  to-day,  that  most  won- 
derful encyclopedia  of  all  knowledge  that  ever,  I 
think,  went  out  from  this  college  ?  If  we  could 
have  had  John  G.  Saxe,  the  prince  of  poetical  pun- 
sters, or  Edward  J.  Phelps,  of  lamented  memory? 
Had  that  been  possible,  you  would  have  listened  to 
something  worthy  and  entertaining. 

In  reference  to  Mr.  Phelps,  I  want  to  say  that  I  owe 
more  to  him  than  to  any  other  one  man  for  the  turn 


252  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

of  my  life,  and  the  fact  of  my  going  to  Washington, 
the  capitol  of  the  republic,  and  spending  so  many 
of  the  years  of  my  life  there.  It  all  depended  upon 
a  little,  almost  whispered,  sentence  that  fell  upon 
the  ear  of  Mr.  Phelps  in  the  Treasury  Building  at 
Washington,  when  he  was  seated  at  his  desk  as  the 
Second  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury.  His  chief 
clerk  was  a  member  of  the  old  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  they  had  been  without  a  minister  for 
about  eighteen  months.  They  had  sent  a  commit- 
tee to  the  north  and  east,  and  all  through  New  Eng- 
land, and  it  came  home  without  avail ;  but  there 
was  a  conversation  just  in  the  open  doorway  of  Mr. 
Phelps's  office,  between  this  secretary  and  another 
member  of  the  church,  and  the  secretary,  Mr.  John- 
son, said :  "  Well,  it  is  too  bad ;  I  don't  know  what 
we  shall  do  for  a  minister."  This  was  said  almost 
in  a  whisper,  but  it  fell  upon  the  ear  of  Mr.  Phelps, 
and  he  looked  up  from  his  writing  and  said:  "  What 
is  that,  Johnson,  —  you  have  n't  any  minister.?  Well, 
I  know  just  the  man  for  you."  I  heard  this  from 
Mr.  Phelps,  who  told  me  afterwards  that  he  had  n't 
thought  of  me  for  five  years ;  but  we  were  in  col- 
lege together  two  years,  and  he  knew  that  I  in- 
tended to  be  a  minister.  He  did  n't  know  where  I 
was  at  that  time,  but  it  shot  into  his  head,  and  he 
named  me,  and  that  was  the  beginning. 

The  reminiscences  of  this  time  are  so  many  that 
with  your   indulgence    I   will   simply  refer  to  two 


THE   LUNCHEON  253 

th-ings  that  happened  while  I  have  been  living  there. 
One  was  the  conversation  that  I  had  with  President 
Lincoln  about  two  days  before  his  proclamation  of 
emancipation  came  out,  which  you  will  remember 
was  on  the  first  of  January,  1863.  The  papers  had 
been  intimating  that  he  had  merely  made  a  bluff  of 
it,  and  that  he  didn't  intend  to  put  forth  this  procla- 
mation, but  merely  to  frighten  the  Southern  people 
into  submission.  I  was  very  anxious  about  that, 
and  I  got  a  friend  to  make  an  appointment  with  the 
President  for  me.  The  first  of  January  came  that 
year  on  Thursday.  On  Tuesday  evening  I  held  this 
interview  with  the  President  by  appointment.  I 
went  in  and  said  to  him :  "  Mr.  President,  I  have 
come  to  present  my  congratulations,  and  to  talk  with 
you  about  a  proclamation."  He  was  standing,  a 
great  tall  figure,  the  shades  of  night  around  us ;  we 
had  only  one  little  gas  burner  on  the  table  between 
us,  and  I  almost  feared  to  approach  him.  I  could 
just  see  his  form,  and  when  I  said  this  he  replied: 
"  Oh,  Doctor,  go  on ;  every  little  helps."  I  was  very 
earnest  about  it,  but  to  make  a  long  story  short,  I 
made  a  remark  or  two,  and  he  said :  "  Well,  you 
know,  Doctor,  Peter  was  going  to  do  it,  but  when 
the  day  came  he  did  n't  do  much."  I  had  just  been 
studying  Peter's  case,  and  I  was  glad  he  referred  to 
it ;  I  said :  "  Mr.  President,  if  you  will  follow  the 
example  of  Peter  until  you  are  rebuked  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  enemy  as  Peter  w^as  by  his  Master,  you 


2  54  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

will  come  out  all  right."  You  will  remember  that 
he  was  going  to  fight,  and  drew  his  sword,  and 
never  left  off  until  the  Master  turned  and  rebuked 
him.  That  seemed  to  take  the  President,  and 
then  he  sat  down  and  made  one  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent presentations  of  the  whole  question.  He 
made  me  think  of  one  of  the  old  prophets,  and  I 
always  regretted  that  there  wasn't  some  stenogra- 
pher there  to  take  down  what  he  said.  Among 
other  things  he  told  this  story  when  he  was  talking 
about  the  immediate  effect  of  the  emancipation 
proclamation  upon  the  negro  race.  He  said :  "  I 
don't  know  how  it  will  be,  it  is  a  great  responsibility 
to  think  of  such  a  thing;  four  million  of  those  poor 
creatures  set  loose  in  this  way  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves. I  told  old  Wade  the  other  day  it  reminded 
me  of  one  of  the  first  books  I  read  in  my  boyhood, 
a  rough  wood-cut  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  page 
a  story  telling  what  it  meant;  about  the  middle  of 
the  book  were  two  or  three  men  who  had  got  a  large 
potash  kettle  and  had  filled  it  with  ice  water,  and 
had  got  a  negro  and  had  plunged  him  in  several 
times,  thinking  they  were  going  to  make  a  white 
man  of  him,  but  in  the  mean  time  the  negro  took 
cold  and  died.  And  so,  I  don't  know  what  will  be 
the  effect." 

In  1862,  Senator  Salisbury  of  Delaware,  who  had 
been  educated  for  the  ministry  and  was  a  very  fine 
Hebrew  scholar,  but  afterwards  turned  to  the  side 


THE   LUNCHEON  255 

of  the  law  and  got  into  the  Senate,  got  up  one  day 
and  made  a  tremendous  speech  in  favor  of  the  Bible 
argument  for  slavery.  Many  of  the  senators  were 
not  as  well  acquainted  with  the  Old  Testament  as  he 
was,  and  it  made  considerable  of  a  disturbance.  He 
spoke  an  hour  and  a  half.  When  I  went  up  the 
next  morning  to  open  the  session  of  the  Senate,  I 
was  surrounded  by  a  number  of  gentlemen  who 
said :  "  You  ought  to  have  been  here  yesterday ; 
Salisbury  has  been  giving  a  Bible  argument  in  favor 
of  slavery."  We  were  all  strained  up  in  those  days, 
and  our  ideas  and  thoughts  were  very  swift ;  and  just 
then  Hannibal  Hamlin  rapped  the  Senate  to  order. 
As  I  stepped  up  into  the  desk  to  commence  my 
prayer,  this  thing,  I  don't  know  how,  shot  into  me 
like  an  arrow,  and  I  said :  "  O  God  of  this  Nation, 
be  pleased  to  teach  this  Senate,  and  to  teach  the 
American  people,  that  if  slavery  is  a  Bible  institution, 
so  is  hell  itself;  and  O  Lord  God,  be  pleased  to 
help  this  Senate  and  the  American  people  to  abolish 
the  one  and  escape  from  the  other."  Well,  the  sena- 
tors got  about  Salisbury  that  day  and  nagged  him 
almost  to  death,  so  that  about  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  he  sent  up  a  resolution  to  be  read  by  the 
clerk,  which  was,  after  considerable  of  a  preamble : 
"  Resolved,  that  the  chaplain  of  the  Senate  be  ex- 
pelled." But  just  then  it  was  time  to  adjourn,  and 
that  was  the  last  we  ever  heard  of  his  speech  or  his 
resolution. 


256  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

I  must  not  take  up  any  more  time.  I  have  been 
under  the  doctor's  care  since  I  have  been  here,  but 
I  am  delighted  to  be  with  you,  and  I  think  it  is  a 
gracious  kindness  of  Providence  that  I  am  here. 

Mr.  Stewart:  We  would  like  to  hear  a  few 
words  from  Dr.  Boardman,  of  the  Class  of  '47. 


DOCTOR  GEORGE   N.   BOARDMAN'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman  : 

I  HAVE  been  asked  to  say  a  word  about  Dr. 
Labaree's  administration.  I  rise  with  reluc- 
tance to  speak  on  this  subject,  because  it  may  seem 
a  discordant  note  in  this  tide  of  congratulations  and 
joyful  sentiment,  but  perhaps  it  will  do  us  no  harm  to 
look  back  for  a  few  moments  and  see  from  what  we 
have  grown  in  attaining  our  present  altitude. 

In  1 84 1,  Dr.  Labaree  was  forty  years  old,  a  man 
of  great  physical  strength,  fine  attainments,  good 
reputation,  from  whom  much  was  expected  by  his 
friends.  The  old  people  of  Hanover  remembered 
young  Labaree  as  a  stirring  speaker  in  public  meet- 
ings, and  he  was  known  as  a  man  of  fine  attain- 
ments as  a  college  graduate.  He  made  no  claim 
to  special  acquisitions.  He  did,  however,  once 
have  a  little  brush  with  a  learned  professor  of  Latin 
in  an  educational  meeting,  and  I  believe  the  learned 
professor  came  in,  in  the  afternoon,  and  made  an 


THE   LUNCHEON  257 

apology  for  having  assaulted  him.  He  was  a  man 
who  was  successful  in  whatever  he  undertook.  I 
remember  that  General  Nash  said  of  him  once :  "  I 
don't  know  what  the  College  is  coming  to,  but  there 
is  a  great  man  at  the  helm." 

But  he  came  in  somewhat  troublous  times.  He 
sometimes  said  he  had  to  make  a  new  college.  His 
friends  said  the  same  thing.  I  have  myself  sometimes 
compared  his  work  with  that  of  President  Atwater, 
who  began  his  institutional  career  here  in  1800, 
and  I  have  been  reminded  of  these  words  of  Watts ; 
he  says,  does  he  not,  somewhere:  — 

"  *T  was  great  to  speak  a  world  from  naught, 
'Twas  greater  to  redeem." 

He  really  restored  the  College,  for  it  seemed  to 
have  lost  its  standing.  He  did  not  know  it  when 
he  came,  certainly  not  when  he  was  appointed  and 
accepted  the  place,  but  he  found  afterwards  he  had 
some  difficulties  to  meet  that  were  at  first  unsus- 
pected; and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  he  labored 
twenty-five  years  without  an  attempt  to  enlarge  the 
institution,  except  to  enlarge  its  funds.  He  came 
in  184 1 ;  I  talked  with  him  in  1859  about  one  addi- 
tional professorship ;  that  is,  to  have  a  professorship 
of  philosophy,  as  other  institutions  were  having. 
He  said  it  was  useless  to  think  of  it  at  that  time. 
There  were  six  instructors,  —  the  president  with  his 
professorship,  four  other  professors,   and   a  tutor. 


258  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

These  constituted  the  Faculty,  —  a  marked  illustra- 
tion of  the  truth  of  the  remarks  of  President  Tucker 
as  to  the  curriculum,  in  his  address  yesterday. 

I  will  speak  of  one  or  two  things  that  he  had  to 
encounter.  One  was  the  alienation  of  the  former 
graduates  of  the  college.  I  myself  have  met  good 
men  who  were  vexed  with  the  work  or  action  of  the 
Trustees  of  that  time,  because  they  ignored  Middle- 
bury  for  some  reason,  —  I  never  could  explain  it,  — 
and  filled  vacancies  in  the  Faculty  from  graduates 
of  other  colleges.  They  had  an  excellent  tutor,  who 
was  almost  the  backbone  of  the  institution,  of  the 
Class  of  '38,  and  who  is  present  with  us  to-day, 
William  F.  Bascom ;  but  in  new  appointments  other 
colleges  were  given  the  preference. 

Dr.  Labaree  supposed  that  he  was  coming  to 
Middlebury  to  connect  his  work  with  what  had 
been  done  before,  but  he  happened  to  meet,  at  some 
place,  Professor  Hough,  and  there  learned  the  state 
of  things.  I  do  not  know  what  Professor  Hough  said, 
but  a  lady  of  Middlebury  told  me  she  supposed  she 
had  heard  the  same  remarks,  and  that  never  before 
did  she  know  what  the  English  language  was  capable 
of  by  way  of  reproach. 

The  antislavery  sentiment  was  working  like 
leaven  at  the  time,  and  he  had  to  encounter  it. 
The  younger  people  here  know  nothing  of  that.  I 
suppose  they  know  that  the  civil  war  made  some 
commotion,  but  at  the  North  it  really  united  people. 


THE   LUNCHEON  259 

while  the  agitation  preceding  it  divided  them. 
When  such  a  man  as  Wendell  Phillips,  a  good 
orthodox  churchman,  could  propose  an  antislavery 
resolution,  that  the  exit  of  the  slave  from  the  house 
of  his  bondage  must  be  over  the  ruins  of  the  church 
and  the  constitution,  we  may  know  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  air.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  jealousy 
of  the  churches  and  of  educational  institutions,  and 
in  order  to  test  our  College  some  one  got  up  the 
story  that  there  were  five  colored  young  men,  of 
good  character,  who  desired  to  enter  some  college 
in  New  England,  and  wrote  to  President  Labaree 
asking  if  he  would  take  them.  He  answered,  very 
discreetly,  that  we  were  willing  to  do  our  share  in 
educational  work  of  that  kind.  The  abolition 
papers  through  New  England,  from  Boston  to  Bur- 
lington, rang  with  criticisms  and  sarcastic  sneers 
over  the  reply.  That,  however,  was  a  small  matter, 
for  it  soon  passed  off,  and  the  truth  came  out  that 
no  such  five  persons  existed,  except  in  some  one's 
imagination. 

Then  there  was  the  question  of  the  union  of  the 
colleges.  The  President  was  engaged  in  soliciting 
funds,  and  was  met  with  the  remark  that  one  college 
was  enough  for  Vermont.  He  entered  into  a  very 
cordial  correspondence  upon  this  matter  with  Presi- 
dent Wheeler,  and  they  always  remained  excellent 
friends,  —  the  President  of  the  University  and  the 
President  of  Middlebury  College,  —  but  after  a  good 


26o  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

deal  of  discussion,  not  to  the  detriment  of  Middle- 
bury,  the  matter  was  dropped. 

When  this  question  was  out  of  the  way,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  raise  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  —  a 
modest  sum,  but  he  did  not  dare  go  higher,  as  it 
was  thought  best  to  confine  the  first  effort  towards 
endowment  to  the  vicinage  of  the  College.  Con- 
nected with  these  turmoils  was  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Faculty.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1847,  Presi- 
dent Labaree  and  James  Meacham,  afterward  our 
distinguished  Congressman,  were  left  alone  as  col- 
lege instructors.  It  was  not  till  the  commencement 
anniversary  of  1848  that  a  new  Faculty  was  fully 
formed. 

The  semicentennial  celebration  in  1850  was  a 
cheering  one,  and  the  president  hoped  that  the 
still  remaining  work  of  college  endowment  might 
be  performed  by  agents,  but  this  was  an  anticipation 
not  to  be  realized.  After  several  abortive  attempts, 
he  was  compelled  to  resume  himself  that  unattrac- 
tive part  of  college  labor,  and  continue  it,  on  occa- 
sions at  least,  to  the  close  of  his  term  of  office. 

We  have  not  time  to  speak  of  later  and  better 
known  discouragements,  as  the  distractions  caused 
by  the  civil  war,  the  loss  of  students  who  entered 
the  army,  and  the  loss  of  Starr  Hall  by  fire.  It 
can  be  truthfully  said,  and  it  is  but  just  to  say, 
that  President  Labaree,  sustained  indeed  by  loyal 
friends,  by  his  wisdom,  courage,  and  indomitable 


THE   LUNCHEON  26 1 

perseverance,  through  twenty-five  years  of  peculiar 
trials,  steadily  advanced  the  interests  of  the  College, 
and  in  1866  gave  it  over  into  the  hands  of  his  suc- 
cessor in  a  much  better  condition  than  that  in  which 
he  found  it. 

There  are  two  things  that  occur  to  me  to  say  as 
a  matter  of  exhortation  to  the  alumni,  —  that  every 
rich  man  give  his  money  when  it  is  needed.  Fifty 
thousand  dollars  in  1841  would  have  changed  Dr. 
Labaree's  administration  from  a  period  of  trial  to 
one  of  cheer.  Another  thing  is  this,  to  the  college 
authorities,  to  stand  by  the  traditions.  The  break- 
ing off  of  the  past  from  the  future  in  1840  was  a 
sad  mistake.  We  had  a  wise  Corporation  in  many 
respects.  They  knew  a  good  minister,  they  knew  a 
good  lawyer,  but  they  did  not  know  a  college.  They 
were  not  imbued  with  the  traditional  sentiment  that 
pervades  an  institution.  They  had  not  learned  to 
love  it  for  what  it  was  and  had  been. 

Our  friend  and  honored  alumnus,  recently  gone, 
Edward  J.  Phelps,  used  to  dwell  with  great  elo- 
quence upon  the  power  of  traditions.  We  need,  the 
corporation  needs,  to  be  imbued  in  every  muscle, 
bone,  and  sinew  with  the  living  transmitted  senti- 
ments of  the  institution.  I  have  been  sometimes 
called  a  conservative,  and  I  am  willing  to  bear  the 
name,  for  there  can  be  no  advance  except  through  a 
force  already  existing.  There  is  no  growth  except 
in  the  maintaining  of  that  which  we  have,  and  in 


262  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

guarding  that  which  is  already  established.     "  To 
thyself  be  true." 

Mr.  Stewart:  I  know  you  will  all  be  glad  to 
hear  a  word  from  Dr.  Hamlin,  who  came  to  the 
College  in  an  hour  of  extreme  depression,  and,  in 
my  judgment,  —  and  I  know  what  I  am  talking 
about,  —  gave  it  its  first  impulse  on  the  upward 
grade,  on  which  it  has  been  going  ever  since.  He 
took  his  coat  off  and  went  into  the  laboratory  and 
into  the  department  of  physics,  and  with  his  own 
hand  repaired  the  machinery.  I  came  up  here 
one  day,  and  said,  "Where  is  Dr.  Hamlin.?" 
They  told  me,  and  I  went  to  the  library  but  did  n't 
find  him ;  and  I  kept  going  up  and  finally  got  into 
the  attic,  and  there,  —  it  was  dark  and  full  of  cob- 
webs, as  it  usually  was,  with  the  beams  so  close  that 
I  nearly  broke  my  head  in  getting  up,  —  there 
I  found  Dr.  Hamlin  hard  at  work.  We  owe  him  a 
debt  of  gratitude.  He  began  with  this  century, 
he  is  almost  as  old  as  the  College;  he  cannot 
make  a  long  speech,  and  he  ought  not  to  try  it; 
but  I  know  you  want  to  see  him,  and  I  take  great 
pleasure,  and  feel  it  an  honor,  to  introduce  to  you 
Dr.  Hamlin. 


THE   LUNCHEON  263 

PRESIDENT  CYRUS   HAMLIN'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  President: 

1  THINK  I  can  make  a  short  speech  without 
taking  off  my  coat,  and  I  wish  to  say  at  this 
hour  only  two  things :  I  wish  to  express  my  admi- 
ration of  what  President  Brainerd  and  his  faithful 
and  able  coadjutors  have  accomplished  since  I  left 
the  College  in  1885,  and  my  profound  gratitude  for 
the  great  kindness  with  which  I  have  been  received 
by  everybody  in  the  College  and  out  of  it.  God 
bless  you  all. 

Mr.  Stewart:  We  are  honored  by  the  presence 
of  a  gentleman,  a  busy  man,  but  one  who  finds  time 
in  the  affairs  of  this  world  to  devote  a  great  deal  of 
time  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  missions, 
and  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  the  Hon- 
orable Samuel  B.  Capen,  LL.D.,  of  Boston. 

DOCTOR  SAMUEL  B.   CAPEN'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman: 

MY  first  word  is  to  express  my  appreciation  for 
the  honor  you  conferred  upon  me  this  morn- 
ing, and  for  the  permission  to  enter  this  brother- 
hood.    I  am  glad  I  can  now  say  that. 

I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  word  about  the  gradu- 
ates of  this  institution  in  the  foreign  missionary 


264  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

work.  An  American  bishop  has  said:  "  If  you  set 
a  Christian  scholar  working  for  God,  you  put  a 
force  into  the  world  that  will  counteract  the  influ- 
ence of  a  thousand  illiterate,  vicious  men."  The 
most  effective  force  in  this  world  to-day  is  the  living 
man  in  touch  with  living  men.  We  do  not  under- 
value the  power  of  the  printed  page ;  but  when  the 
truth  that  is  in  that  page  is  in  the  heart  and  brain 
of  the  living  soul,  and  then  with  conviction  and 
earnestness  that  truth  is  sent  home  to  others,  it 
becomes  a  life  in  their  lives.  It  was  the  Master's 
method;  Rewrote  nothing  himself.  We  are  told 
that  He  made  once  a  few  letters  in  the  dust  upon 
the  pavement,  and  that  was  all.  What  did  He  do.f^ 
He  took  a  little  handful  of  men  and  told  them  of 
the  glory  of  the  Kingdom,  and  then  sent  them  forth 
to  preach  and  to  teach  in  the  spirit  of  the  Master. 
Middlebury  College  for  a  hundred  years  has  been 
doing  just  that  thing.  She  has  breathed  her  life 
into  her  sons  and  her  daughters,  and  then  she  has 
bade  them  go  forth  to  honorable  achievement. 

I  have  in  my  hand  a  list  of  thirty-five  men,  and  I 
think  the  list  is  not  quite  complete,  who  have  been 
sent  forth  by  the  American  Board,  who  are  grad- 
uates of  this  institution.  Magnificent  list!  Among 
the  names  of  those  living  I  read  those  of  Benjamin 
Labaree,  of  the  Class  of  1854,  a  missionary  to  the 
Nestorians,  and  my  brother  James  L.  Barton  at  my 
left,  of  the  Class  of  1881,  who  was  sent  fifteen  years 


THE   LUNCHEON  265 

ago  to  Turkey,  and  was  fitted  there  as  a  missionary 
and  then  as  President  of  Euphrates  College,  for  the 
great  position  he  now  holds.  One  of  our  great 
leaders  said  to  me  last  year,  "  Doctor  Barton  is  a 
statesman  and  he  is  everywhere  loved." 

May  I  take  two  names  out  of  the  list  and  use  them 
as  illustrations  ?  The  first  T  would  call  your  attention 
to  is  that  of  Miron  Winslow,  whose  honored  nephew 
you  have  listened  to.  You  know  him  here  as  the 
author  of  that  wonderful  Tamil  English  Lexicon, 
which  was  the  result  for  him  of  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  work,  three  hours  a  day.  He  had  to 
make  a  language  of  thirty  thousand  words ;  it  is  a 
monument  to  his  industry.  He  translated  the  Bible 
and  text-books,  but  he  did  another  service  with 
which  you  are  perhaps  not  so  familiar.  For  many 
years  there  was  a  conflict  whether  the  whole  work  of 
missions  was  not  done,  so  far  as  missionaries  were 
concerned,  when  they  simply  did  the  evangelical 
work  of  preaching  the  Gospel.  Mr.  Winslow 
contended  that  we  must  train  the  boys  and  girls 
to  be  missionaries  to  their  own  people.  There 
is  no  conflict  to-day;  the  preacher  and  teacher 
go  hand  in  hand,  and  you  must  ever,  in  this 
institution,  remember  Miron  Winslow  as  the  pio- 
neer of  those  days. 

The  other  name  is  that  of  Hiram  Bingham,  who 
went  to  what  were  then  called  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
in  the  same  year,  18 19.     When  he  went  there,  what 


266  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

did  he  find  ?  A  race  so  degraded  that  men  almost 
doubted  whether  they  were  human  or  not.  The 
natives  were  sitting  on  the  beach  eating  raw  fish 
with  the  dogs,  and  then  eating  the  dogs.  And  what 
is  Hawaii  to-day?  President  Barrows  of  Oberlin 
College  says :  "  If  I  were  asked  to  give  the  place  in 
all  the  world  where  there  is  the  greatest  manifes- 
tation of  the  power  of  the  Gospel,  I  would  take  you 
to  those  little  islands  in  the  Pacific."  They  are  only 
about  the  size  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  yet  those 
Hawaiian  Christians  give  one-sixth  as  much  money 
as  is  given  for  missions  in  our  Congregational 
churches  of  the  United  States.  The  man  who  says 
to-day  that  he  does  not  believe  in  foreign  missions 
speaks  from  inexcusable  ignorance,  for  the  story  of 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  is  written.  It  is  a  stirring 
story,  and  almost  beyond  comprehension,  but  you 
friends  of  Middlebury  will  remember  that  Hiram 
Bingham  was  there.  You  have  been  doing  mag- 
nificently in  the  past,  and  you  are  going  to  do 
magnificently  in  the  future.  We  are  on  the  eve  of 
great  movements ;  we  are  coming  to  great  achieve- 
ments. Your  sons,  and  the  sons  of  other  institutions, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  living  Christ  have  turned  them- 
selves against  heathendom,  and  all  the  customs  and 
superstitions  of  the  past,  and  the  world  has  been 
standing  back  to  say,  absurd !  Yes,  friends,  the 
same  absurdity  as  when  a  little  band  of  disciples, 
inspired    by    the   living   Christ,   threw   themselves 


THE   LUNCHEON  267 

against  the  Roman  Empire ;  they  who  won  then  are 
going  to  win  now.  God  is  back  of  it  all.  The 
noblest  work  in  this  world,  the  noblest  service,  is  to 
be  a  minister  of  the  Gospel;  the  noblest  place  in 
that  service  is  to  be  a  missionary  of  the  Cross.  And 
the  sons  of  Middlebury  have  written  their  names 
large  in  the  roll  of  honor.  Your  past  at  least  is 
secure.  May  I  not  express  the  wish  that  the 
glorious  history  of  that  past  may  be  the  prophecy  of 
still  more  glorious  service  in  the  future } 

Mr.  Stewart  :  There  is  a  financial  and  business 
end  to  all  of  this  matter.  You  cannot  make  million- 
aires, or  lawyers,  or  anybody  else,  unless  you  put 
business  into  it,  and  the  law  element  is  an  essential 
element  in  all  the  affairs  of  this  world. 

I  wish  to  announce  to  the  alumni  present  that  we 
have  taken  the  opportunity,  without  consultation 
with  my  friend,  the  gentleman  I  shall  name,  to  uti- 
lize his  intelligence  and  his  knowledge  of  affairs, 
which  are  large  and  wide  and  acquired  in  many  fields, 
—  we  have  undertaken  to  utilize  these,  without  his 
notice  and  without  his  knowledge,  in  making  him  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  this  institution. 

He  went  far  afield  in  early  life.  He  made  a  large 
mark  on  the  shore  of  the  Pacific,  but  he  was  drawn 
back  to  our  beloved  State  by  a  magnet  which  he 
could  not  resist,  and  has  been  an  honored  resident 
of   the  State  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.     I  take 


268  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

great   pleasure   in   introducing   to  you  my  friend, 
John  G.  McCullough  of  Bennington. 


GENERAL  JOHN   G.   McCULLOUGH'S    SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman  : 

IN  this  era  of  universities  (for  everything  is  now 
a  university),  it  is  quite  exceptional  and  re- 
freshing, but  no  less  charming,  to  be  allowed  to 
attend  once  more  a  college  Commencement;  and 
that,  too,  of  a  college  whose  venerable  locks  are 
whitened  by  an  hundred  years,  and  which  for  a 
whole  century  has  resisted  the  insidious  process  of 
metempsychosis,  and  still  stands  in  1900,  as  in  1800, 
proudly  erect,  plain  Middlebury  College.  Her  sons 
are  to  be  congratulated  that  their  Alma  Mater  has 
not  become  by  transmigration  a  step-mother,  but 
still  remains  true  to  her  first  love. 

And  so,  too,  in  turn,  is  the  College  to  be  con- 
gratulated, that  she  has  sent  out  into  the  world, 
during  all  these  years,  so  many  sons  who  have 
reflected  honor  upon  her,  and  have  won  for  them- 
selves distinction  in  every  walk  of  life.  Many  of 
them  we  have  heard  from  to-day ;  others,  doubtless, 
will  speak  later  on  at  this  crowded  banquet,  all 
bringing  their  tribute  to  this  shrine.  (The  Chair- 
man, in  the  hour  or  so  at  his  disposal,  is  embarrassed 
with  riches.)  Many  more  are  absent,  living  lives 
of  usefulness  all  over  this  land.     Still  many  more 


THE   LUNCHEON  269 

have  gone  over  to  the  other  shore,  leaving  enviable 
records  of  well-spent  lives.  Among  these,  may  I 
not  say,  is  Middlebury's  greatest  alumnus ;  and  it 
has  been  suggested  to  me  by  one  or  two  of  those  in 
authority  here,  that  it  would  be  appropriate  to  voice 
a  word,  and  only  a  word,  of  eulogy  at  this  time. 
Had  he  lived,  it  was  expected  that  Mr.  Phelps 
would  have  delivered  the  Centennial  Oration  to-day. 
It  detracts  nothing  from  the  gentleman  who  deliv- 
ered the  oration  at  the  church  this  morning;  it  is 
no  disparagement  to  that  able  and  eloquent  and 
discriminating  address,  to  say  that  those  who  lis- 
tened to  Phelps  on  Marshall,  at  Saratoga,  and  on 
Vermont,  at  Bennington,  or  who  heard  his  farewell 
at  the  London  banquet  as  he  was  leaving  the 
shores  of  England,  or  his  reply  to  the  toast  of  Fore- 
fathers' Day,  at  a  New  England  dinner  in  New 
York  a  few  years  ago,  would  have  been  electrified 
on  this  occasion  by  a  masterpiece  of  American 
oratory  on  Middlebury  College.  But  neither  the 
time,  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  nor  the  limitations  of 
the  surroundings,  permit  any  extended  eulogy.  We 
can  but  throw  a  wild  flower  on  his  bier  as  it  passes 
by  to-day.  It  must  be  left  to  some  fitter  one  on 
some  more  fitting  occasion  to  pronounce  a  full  and 
just  review  of  the  man  and  his  life  work. 

Mr.  Phelps  was  a  thorough  New  Englander,  and 
came  of  strong  New  England  stock.  He  was  en- 
dowed by  nature  with  a  good  constitution  and  he 


2  70  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

never  abused  it.  He  grew  in  mental  vigor  from  his 
youth  to  the  end  of  his  days.  I  did  not  know  him 
in  his  earlier  years,  but  ever  since  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  his  acquaintance  I  always  felt  that  he  would  be 
equal  to  any  emergency  and  easily  meet  every 
demand.  In  his  intercourse  with  men  he  was  a 
perfect  gentleman.  His  transforming  and  uplifting 
influence,  especially  with  the  young,  seemed  ever 
present.  He  despised  pretense  and  sham.  He 
detested  hypocrisy  and  demagogy. 

Mr.  Phelps  was  a  scholar,  a  lawyer,. a  statesman, 
a  diplomatist.  He  was  an  educated  and  refined 
scholar;  and  would  have  graced  the  ermine  of  the 
judge,  or  the  lawn  of  the  prelate,  the  one  as  easily 
as  the  other.  He  was  a  lover  of  the  fine  arts, 
especially  of  music  and  painting,  and  it  was  ever  an 
exquisite  delight  to  lead  him  into  an  easy  conversa- 
tional discourse  on  either.  He  was  a  born  conver- 
sationalist,—  interesting,  intelligent,  charming,  in- 
structive, full  of  anecdote,  and  bubbling  over  with 
wit  and  humor. 

In  letter-writing,  —  that  lost  art,  —  in  my  opinion 
neither  Lowell,  nor  Stevenson,  nor  any  other  ex- 
celled him.  He  was  only  his  own  equal.  Racy  and 
bright,  full  of  novel  conceits  and  unexpected  lights 
and  shadows,  now  a  vein  of  sadness,  anon  of  glad- 
ness, running  through  his  lines  as  the  mood  ran 
through  his  being.  Unless  Governor  Stewart  or 
some  other  gathers  together  and  publishes  a  volume 


THE   LUNCHEON  271 

of  his  letters,  it  will  be  an  irreparable  loss  to  litera- 
ture. 

As  a  member  of  the  Vermont  Bar,  although  there 
are  those  present  who  could  speak  with  fuller 
knowledge  and  greater  authority,  in  my  judgment 
Mr.  Phelps  during  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years 
was  almost,  if  not  altogether,  facile  princeps.  At 
the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Nation,  of 
which  body  he  just  escaped,  by  political  chicanery, 
being  Chief  Justice,  he  stood  second  to  none,  during 
the  past  score  of  years  and  more,  of  all  that  able 
and  brilliant  galaxy  of  lawyers  and  advocates  appear- 
ing before  that  august  tribunal.  His  style  was  so 
direct,  his  presentation  of  the  facts  of  the  case  so 
clear  and  concise,  and  so  incisive  and  trenchant, 
that  victory  was  already  half  won  when  his  state- 
ment was  made ;  and  this,  followed  up  by  a  logic  that 
was  at  once  the  scimitar  and  the  sledge-hammer, 
carried  conviction  unerringly  and  irresistibly. 

As  a  representative  of  this  country  at  the  first 
court  of  the  world,  all  along  down  the  long  line 
of  ambassadors  and  ministers  at  St.  James',  he  is 
the  acknowledged  peer,  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean, 
of  the  proudest.  The  nation  that  sent  him,  and 
the  nation  to  which  he  was  sent,  seemed  equally 
proud  of  the  lofty  and  dignified  bearing  that  ever 
characterized  his  course. 

Mr.  Phelps  was  an  orator  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
word.    Webster  was  his  great  exemplar — the  God- 


2  72  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

like  Daniel,  who  trod  this  earth  a  demigod.  He 
was  cultured  and  finished  and  eloquent,  —  eloquent 
in  ideas,  not  in  words,  —  and  his  diction  was  perfect. 
Our  loss  of  the  oration  which  he  would  have 
delivered  here  to-day  is  not  our  loss  alone;  it  is 
the  loss  of  the  English-speaking  world. 

In  a  word,  he  was  preeminent  in  every  sphere. 
But  I  forbear,  my  time  is  up,  and  I  would  close  with 
the  salutation:  Hail,  good  friend,  bright  genius, 
Middlebury's  greatest  alumnus,  hail  and  farewell ! 

Mr.  Stewart  :  I  would  like  to  hear  a  word  from 
Mr.  Labaree,  the  son  of  our  former  honored 
president. 

DOCTOR  JOHN   C.   LABAREE'S  SPEECH 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

1  THANK  you  for  the  courteous  invitation  to  say 
a  word  on  this  occasion.  The  good  Book  says 
that  "the  seat  of  the  righteous  shall  be  blessed." 
Now  I  very  carefully  refrain  from  any  criticism 
assaulting  that  blessed  Book ;  but  still  it  seems  to  me 
somewhat  questionable,  the  blessing  of  being  called 
upon  to  make  a  speech  at  this  late  hour,  simply 
because  I  am  near  the  seat  of  the  righteous. 

It  would  be  very  agreeable  to  me,  Mr.  President, 
in  the  name  of  one  w4io  has  been  spoken  of  very 
kindly  by  Professor  Boardman  this  afternoon,  to 
extend  congratulations  on  the  prosperity  of  Middle- 
bury  College  at  this  time ;  and  I  am  sure,  Sir,  and 


'  THE   LUNCHEON  273 

I  delight  SO  to  say,  that  were  my  father  present  he 
would  take  great  pleasure,  as  his  sons  do,  in  the 
success  attending  the  administration  of  President 
Brainerd,  and  the  gifts  coming  so  largely  and  mag- 
nificently from  those  who  were  his  friends  while  he 
was  here. 

Mr.  President,  I  forbear  to  speak  longer.  It  was 
said  by  Professor  Boardman  that  some  one  remarked 
of  my  father  that  he  had  perseverance.  It  strikes 
me  that  this  audience  has  great  patience;  I  will 
not  trespass  upon  it  any  longer,  but  offer  my  thanks 
for  your  kindness  and  courtesy  at  this  time. 

Mr.  Stewart  :  I  want  to  hear  a  word  from  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Holmes. 

DOCTOR  RICHARD   S.   HOLMES'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman  : 

LIKE  Mr.  Labaree,  I  thank  you  for  the  privi- 
lege of  standing  upon  this  platform,  but  I 
have  regard  for  the  patience  and  weariness  of  the 
audience. 

Let  me  call  your  mind  back  to  the  fact  that  we 
are  gathered  together  because  this  is  the  centennial 
anniversary.  I  offer  the  following  sentiment  in  the 
name  of  our  one  hundred  years:  — 

One  hundred  years,  one  hundred  years ; 
/  What  are  one  hundred  years? 

Our  Alma  Mater's  lifetime, 
And  they  wake  our  hearts  to  cheers. 
18 


274  MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 

What  though  her  numbers  are  but  few, 

She 's  in  achievement  great, 
Great  in  her  patience,  in  her  faith, 

And  in  her  power  to  wait 
While  centuries  come  and  centuries  go, 

If  such  the  call  shall  be. 
Till  patience,  faith,  and  power  joined 

Shall  crown  her  destiny. 

Mr.  Stewart  :  I  see  a  smiling  friend  over  in  the 
coriler,  and  I  know  he  is  anticipating  with  great 
pleasure  the  call  I  now  make  upon  him. 

COL.  ALDACE   F.  WALKER'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  Chairman  : 

I  AM  sure  no  one  wishes  to  hear  anything  from 
me  at  this  stage  of  the  game.  We  have  had  a 
most  interesting  and  delightful  week.  It  has  been 
profitable  to  us,  and  I  trust  it  has  been  profitable  to 
our  Alma  Mater.  I  was  asked  — I  won't  deny  it  — 
to  make  a  few  remarks  on  this  occasion  with  refer- 
ence to  Middlebury  College  in  connection  with  the 
civil  war.  This  request  came  to  me  three  or  four 
days  ago,  and  I  prepared  a  most  beautiful  speech 
which  I  do  not  propose  to  deliver.  I  will  say  only 
one  word  connected  with  that  topic,  which  has  come 
to  my  mind  since  our  genial  friend  from  Hamilton 
called  your  attention  to  the  motto  at  the  other  end 
of  the  hall.  I  understand  that  to  be  the  motto  of 
Middlebury  College,  —  Scieniia  et  Virtus,  I  do  not 
profess  to  give  the  Roman  pronunciation,  and  if  I 


THE   LUNCHEON  275 

did,  you  would  not  recognise  it  as  the  Scientia  et 
Virtus  we  were  taught.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that 
our  worthy  forefathers,  in  selecting  that  motto  as 
the  motto  of  this  institution,  had  not  perhaps  the 
benefit  of  the  modern  system  of  teaching  Latin, 
and  other  vicious  things  of  which  we  hear  so  much. 
They  evidently  considered  that  virtus  meant  that 
character  which  we  call  virtue  in  poetry  and  in 
oratory.  But  we  are  told  now  by  our  learned  pro- 
fessors of  rhetoric  that  the  chief  virtue  the  good 
old  Romans  knew  was  physical  courage.  That  was 
what  they  meant  by  virtue,  —  courage  and  physical 
power  to  stand  up  and  fight  for  the  country.  And 
so,  perhaps,  our  forefathers  builded  a  little  better 
than  they  knew  when  they  selected  that  motto,  be- 
cause we  have  there  before  us  knowledge,  science, 
and  the  fighting  quality  which  I  understand  the 
motto  really  and  truly  to  signify.  And  did  not 
Middlebury  College  typify  the  motto  in  that  sig- 
nification when  about  one  hundred  of  her  sons  went 
to  fight  for  their  country }  Year  by  year  the  Col- 
lege fell  away  as  its  members  fell  on  the  field  of 
battle;  year  by  year  the  professors  and  president, 
as  has  been  told  to  you  to-day,  failed  in  their  cour- 
age for  the  future  of  the  institution ;  but  they  lost 
no  whit  of  their  courage  for  their  beloved  land. 
Middlebury  College  did  its  share  on  that  occa- 
sion,—  its  full  share,  and  more  than  its  share. 
I  thank  you  for  hearing  me  say  this  much. 


276  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

Mr.  Stewart  :  Last,  but  not  least,  I  want  to  call 
upon  our  friend  from  New  York,  whom  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  putting  into  the  Board  the  other  day, 
and  who  is  now  one  of  the  Trustees  of  Middlebury 
College,  Brother  Gifford. 

MR.   JAMES   M.  GIFFORD'S  SPEECH 
Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

1HAVE  been  wondering  of  what  offense  I  may 
have  been  guilty  during  my  course  in  Middle- 
bury  College,  or  with  what  crimes  you  may  be 
chargeable,  that  I  should  be  inflicted  upon  you  at 
this  late  hour.  I  have  tried  to  escape,  but  at  every 
effort  I  have  been  called  back  by  the  subtle  influ- 
ence of  Governor  Stewart,  and  prevented  by  the 
old-time  control  of  President  Brainerd. 

Returning  to  his  Alma  Mater  after  an  absence  of 
a  fifth  of  a  century,  one  views  the  changes  on  every 
hand  with  feelings  of  surprise.  We  knew  we  would 
miss  the  faces  of  the  professors  of  long  ago,  and 
feared  that  few  of  our  college  mates  might  return. 
We  had  heard  rumors  of  the  progress  the  College 
had  made,  but  had  no  comprehension  of  the  aca- 
demic and  material  improvements  of  recent  years. 
Let  us  proclaim  a  meed  of  praise  to  the  Faculty 
and  Trustees  of  the  College  for  the  wonderful  im- 
provements on  every  hand,  and  devoutly  pray  that 
*'the  good  work  may  go  on." 


THE   LUNCHEON  277 

Although  we  have  just  dedicated  a  library  building, 
the  last  gift  of  one  of  the  College's  most  generous 
friends  in  the  past,  and  the  munificence  of  one  of 
her  beloved  sons  has  made  possible  the  beautiful 
Science  Hall,  just  rising  into  view,  the  College 
needs  a  permanent  auditorium  in  place  of  this  tem- 
porary structure,  equipped  as  a  gymnasium  for  the 
use  of  the  students  during  the  school  year,  and  to 
whose  halls  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Middlebury 
may  return  at  each  recurring  Commencement.  If 
through  the  generosity  of  any  of  the  alumni  who 
have  shown  their  courage  and  demonstrated  their 
love  for  the  old  College  by  remaining  until  the 
shadows  of  evening  have  fallen,  this  dream  shall 
become  a  reality,  I  pledge  you  that  the  opening  of 
the  new  century  shall  be  as  propitious  for  the  future 
usefulness  of  the  College  as  the  closing  of  the  old 
marks  the  end  of  a  hundred  years  of  successful 
work. 

If  I  were  to  speak  to  a  particular  topic  in  the 
short  time  allotted  to  me,  it  would  be  of  the  small 
college  and  its  true  relation  to  the  dawning  century. 
I  do  not  agree  with  the  views  expressed  by  one  of 
the  speakers  here  to-day,  that  the  small  college  is 
destined  to  be  submerged  by  the  onmoving  tide 
that  tends  toward  immensity.  I  believe  in  the 
sTnall  college;  I  believe  that  the  man  who  com- 
pletes a  course  here  receives  more  than  the  simple 
instruction  indicated  by  the  curriculum.     He  par- 


278  MIDDLEBURY  COLLEGE 

ticipates  in  the  personality  of  the  instructor  in  a 
degree  that  cannot  take  place  in  the  larger  college. 

It  has  always  been  the  pride  of  Middlebury  Col- 
lege that  its  chief  object  has  been  to  make  men, — 
men  who  accomplish  results,  men  who  do  things; 
men  who  carry  messages  out  to  those  waiting  in  the 
world,  and  not  the  men  who  simply  theorize  and 
adore  in  the  market-place ;  and  I  firmly  believe  that 
in  proportion  as  you  strengthen  the  bond  which 
exists  between  the  professor  and  the  student,  in 
proportion  as  you  increase  the  influence  of  the 
professor  over  the  student,  in  that  proportion  5rou 
help  the  student  to  know  himself,  and  send  forth 
into  the  world  a  man  who  will  make  a  success  and 
not  a  failure. 

I  will  leave  the  thought  which  I  have  endeavored 
to  express  by  quoting  from  the  inscription  which 
marks  the  granite  shaft  standing  on  the  battlefield 
of  Lexington,  —  only  two  lines,  but  they  are  instinct 
with  eloquence,  and  symbolize  the  true  spirit  that 
has  guided  the  graduates  of  Middlebury  College 
both  in  peace  and  war:  — 

*'  Too  few  to  win, 
Too  brave  to  flee." 

Mr.  Stewart  :  The  exercises  of  the  afternoon  are 
now  concluded. 


A  REGISTER 

OF  GRADUATES  AND   NON-GRADUATES 
ATTENDING   THE   ANNIVERSARY 


GRADUATES. 


Charles  E.  Abell,  i86i  . 
Jul  IN  W.  Abernethy,  1876 
Bertha  B.  Adams,  1895    . 
Charles  A.  Adams,  1895  . 
David  H.  Adams,  i860 
Florence  C.  Allen,  1898 
Frederic  H.  Allen,  1900 
M.  Annette  Anderson,  1899 
Clara  B.  Andrews,  1900  . 
Florence  M.  Andrews,  1900 
Lewis  A.  Austin,   1856.     . 
Lucia  E.  Avery,  1898  .     . 

William  N.  Bacon,  1853  . 
Henry  L.  Bailey,  1886     . 
Constance  F.  Barker,  1900 
William  T.  Barnard,   1900 
Henry  M.  Barnum,  1858 
James  L.  Barton,  1881 
Robert  J.  Barton,  1884 
William  F.  Bascom,  1838 
William  M.  Bass,  1832 
Arthur  E.  Batchelder,  1900 
Ethel  Bates,  1900  .     .     . 
Edward  H.  Baxter,  1876 


Orwell,  Vt. 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Knoxville,  111. 
Knoxville,  111. 
Hampton,  N.  H. 
Brattleboro,  Vt. 
Warehouse  Point,  Conn. 
Shoreham,  Vt. 
Elba,  N.  Y. 
Elba,  N.  Y. 
Orange  City,  Fla. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 

Bridport,  Vt. 
Middletown  Springs,  Vt. 
Sidney,  N.  Y. 
Granville,  N.  Y. 
Freeport,  111. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Salisbury,  Vt. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Neponset,  Mass. 
Townshend,  Vt. 
South  Royalston,  Mass. 
Hyde  Park,  Mass. 


279 


28o 


MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 


Ezra  W.  Benedict,  1891  . 
Frank  H.  Bigelow,  1894  . 
Charles  Billings,  1886 
Eugene  C.  Bingham,  1899 
Rena  I.  BiSBEE,  1900   .     . 
Charles  C.  Bixby,  1847    . 
David  H.  Blossom,  1896  . 
George  N.  Boardman,  1847 
Harlan  S.  Boardman,  1874 
Samuel  W.  Boardman,  1851 
Harriette  E.  Bolton,  1890 
Samuel  B.  Botsford,  1900 
William  H.  Botsford,  1898 
Herbert  E.  Boyce,  1900  . 
Thomas  E.  Boyce,  1876    . 
Edward  R.  Brainerd,  1879 
Ezra  Brainerd,  1864    .     . 

F.  Viola  Brainerd,  1898  . 
Cora  A.  Brock,  1896  .     . 

G.  WoLCOTT  Brooks,  1873 
Edgar  R.  Brown,  1893     . 
Luther  A.  Brown,  1897   . 
Walter  I.  Brown,  1876    . 
Blossom  P.  Bryant,  1891. 
Ernest  C.  Bryant,  1891   . 
Frederick  H.  Bryant,  1900 
David  N.  Burke,  1867 
Patrick  F.  Burke,  1868  . 
Joseph  W.  Burnham,  1864 
Frederick  H.  Button,  1890 
William  H.  Button,  1890 

John  A.  Cadwell,  Jr.,  1897 
Frank  W.  Cady,  1899 .     .     . 
Gilbert  E.  Cady,  1893     .     . 
Martin  E.  Cady,  1869      •     - 


Warrensburg,  N.  Y. 
Natick,  Mass. 
Poultney,  Vt. 
Randolph,  Vt. 
Chicopee,  Mass. 
Brockton,  Mass. 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Montpelier,  Vt. 
Maryville,  Tenn. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Vergennes,  Vt. 
Vergennes,  Vt. 
Winchendon,  Mass. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Los  Angeles,  Cal. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Wells  River,  Vt. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Newark,  N.  J. 
New  Haven,  Vt. 
Nephi,  Utah. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Lincoln,  Vt. 
Port  Henry,  N.  Y. 
■  Port  Henry,  N.  Y. 
Calumet,  Mich. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 

Proctor,  Vt. 
Chicago,  111. 
Benson,  Vt. 
Chicago,  111. 


A   REGISTER 


281 


Sidney  B.  Cady,  1880  .     . 
Thomas  A.  Carlson,  1900 
Frank  D.  Chatterton,  1900 
B.  Frank  Churchill,  1884 
Frank  G.  Clark,  1864 
James  T.  Clark,  1887  .     . 
Laura  S.  Clark,  1894.     . 
Edwin  B.  Clift,  1890  .     . 
George  P.  Collins,  1868  . 
Elmer  E.  Cowles,  1884    . 
Adaline  C.  Crampton,  1899 
WiLLARD  R.  Cray,  1876    . 
Evelyn  A.  Curtis,  1900    . 
Earl  L.  Cushman,  1895    • 


Edward  Dana,  1876     .     . 
Edward  J.  Davenport,  1871 
Eveline  L.  Dean,  1900     . 
Francis  B.  Denio,  18  71    . 
Herbert  W.  Denio,  1888 
Elias  Dewey,  1858  .     .     . 
James  B.  Donoway,  1893  . 
Henry  R.  Dorr,  1880.     . 
George  C.  Douglass,  1895 
Mary  D.  Douglass,  1893. 
Marion  E.  Dunbar,  1897 
ViDA  A.  Dunbar,  1898 
Walter  B.  Dunton,   1898 

Edwin  H.  Eastman,  1876 
Merritt  H.  Eddy,  i860  . 
Stanton  S.  Eddy,  1894  . 
Loyal  D.  Eldredge,  1857 
Willmm  H.  Eldridge,  1895 
Edward  D.  Ellis,  1874  . 
Jesse  A.  Ellsworth,  1886 


Bloomfield,  N.  J. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Proctor,  Vt. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cedar  Rapids,  la. 
Oswego,  N.  Y. 
Randolph,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Ferrisburg,  Vt. 
Weybridge,  Vt. 
St.  Albans,  Vt. 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Rockdale,  N.  Y. 
Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

Rutland,  Vt. 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Orange,  Mass. 
Bangor,  Me. 
Concord,  N.  H. 
Chicago,  111. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Worcester,  Mass. 
Scranton,  Pa. 
Milford,  N.  H. 
Milford,  N.  H. 
Rutland,  Vt. 

Marblehead,  Mass. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Proctor,  Vt. 
Poultney,  Vt. 
Rutland,  Vt. 


282 


MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 


RuFUS  C.  Flagg,  1869  .     . 
John  A.  Fletcher,  1887  . 

William  W.  Gay,  1876 
Harriet  D.  Gerould,  1897 
James  M.  Gifford,  1877  • 
Henry  M.  Goddard,  1890 
James  E.  Goodman,  Jr.,  1896 
Ellen  C.  Gordon,  1897    . 
Willis  A.  Guernsey,  1880 

John  P.  Halnon,  1896 
Michael  F.  Halpin,  1898 
Vernon  C.  Harrington,  189 
Erwin  a.  Hasseltine,  1862 
George  L.  Hasseltine,  1893 
Ava  L.  Hawley,  1896  .     . 
Florence  M.  Hemenway,  1900 
Lewis  H.  Hemenway,  1864 
Charles  E.  Hesselgrave,  1893 
Susie  W.  Hesselgrave,  1893 
Alfred  E.  Higley,  1868  . 
Edwin  H.  Higley,  1868    . 
Henry  P.  Higley,  i860    . 
Mary  G.  Higley,  1898 
Herbert  A.  Hinman,   1898 
Edward  H.  Hobbs,  1862  . 
Florence  M.  Holden,  1897 
Richard  S.  Holmes,  1862 
Edward  C.  Hooker,  1900 
Guy  B.  Horton,  1900  .     . 
Charles  W.  Howard,  1872 
Henry  E.  Howard,  1882  . 
L.  Roy  Howard,  1899 
Walter  E.  Howard,  1871 
Edward  W.  Howe,  1869  . 


Ripon,  Wis. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  New  York,  N.  Y. 

,  HoUis,  N.  H. 

,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

West  Concord,  N.  H. 

.  Granville,  N.  Y. 

,  Amesbury,  Mass. 

.  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

,  Cornwall,  Vt. 

.  New  Haven,  Vt. 

.  Cleveland,  O. 

.  Bristol,  Vt. 

.  Bristol,  Vt. 

,  Middle  Granville,  N.  Y. 

.  Brattleboro,  Vt. 

.  Manchester,  Vt. 
Madison,  N.  J. 

.  Madison,  N.  J. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  Groton,  Mass. 

.  Washington,  D.  C. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 
Cornwall-on-the-Hudson,  N.  Y. 

.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

.  Worcester,  Mass. 

.  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

.  Marshfield,  Mass. 

.  North  Clarendon,  Vt. 

.  Shoreham,  Vt. 

.  Highgate  Center,  Vt. 

.  Barre,  Vt. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  Boston,  Mass. 


A   REGISTER 


283 


Edwin  D.  Howe,  1887 
Eugene  E.  Howe,  1888  . 
Prentiss  C.  Hoyt,  1889  • 
Henry  W.  Hulbert,  1879 
Edmund  G.  Hunt,  1857  . 
John  W.  Hunt,  1847  .  . 
Donald  P.  Hurlrurt,  1899 
Frank  B.  Hyde,  1884  .     . 

Anna  L.  Janes,  1897    .     . 

Brainerd  Kellogg,  1858  . 
Charles  F.  Kingsley,  1872 

John  C.  Labaree,  1856     . 
Ira  H.  LaFleur,  1894 
Harry  F.  Lake,   1899  .     . 
Albert  W.  Lamb,  1877     . 
Guy  C.  Lamson,  1896  .     • 
C.  Ford  Langworthy,  1887 
Adelbert  a.  Lavery,  1890 
George  E.  Lawrence,  1867 
Clarence  G.  Leavenworth, 
Charles  L.  Leonard,  1895 
Emma  D.  Leonard,  1893  . 
James  A.  Lobban,  1898 


Alexander  Macdonald,  1892 
Julius  N.  Mallory,  187  i 
Sara  V.  Mann,  1900  .  .  . 
Bert  E.  Marshall,  1895  .  . 
Moses  M.  Martin,  1861  .  . 
T.  P.  DwiGHT  Matthews,  1870 
Thomas  H.  McLeod,  1854  . 
James  F.  McNaboe,  1892.  . 
Carl  A.  Mead,  1891  .  .  . 
Charles  M.  Mead,  1856  .     . 


Valatie,  N.  Y. 
Gilboa,  N.  Y. 
West  Addison,  Vt. 
Cleveland,  O. 
Beldens,  Vt. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Bridport,  Vt. 
Castleton,  Vt. 

St.  Albans,  Vt. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Salisbury,  Vt. 

Saugus,  Mass. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Suncook,  N.  H. 
East  Orange,  N.  J. 
West  Cornwall,  Vt. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Ballston  Spa,  N.  Y. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Cleveland,  O. 
Cambridge,  N.  Y. 
Cambridge,  N.  Y. 
Wilmington,  Vt. 

St.  Regis  Falls,  N.  Y 
Scituate,  Mass. 
Rockland,  Mass. 
Albany,  N.  Y. 
Ovid,  Mich. 
Cornwall,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
New  Haven,  Conn. 


284 


MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 


John  A.  Mead,  1864 
Junius  E.  Mead,  1890 
Pat  M.  Meldon,  1880 
Elizabeth  E.  Merriam,  1895 
Carl  M.  Merrill,  1896    . 
Peter  J.  H.  Meyers,  1847 
Elmer  P.  Miller,  1884    . 
John  C.  Miller,  1882.     . 
Benjamin  C.  Miner,  1893 
Calvin  B.  Moody,  1877    . 
James  Moore,  1896.     .     . 
Charles  S.  Murkland,  1881 

F.  Elisabeth  Nichols,  1900  . 
Harrison  P.  Nichols,  1869  • 
Nathan  R.  Nichols,  1866  . 
Thomas  H.  Noonan,  1891 

James  B.  O'Neill,  1883    .     . 

C.  B.  F.  Palmer,  1883 
Kate  E.  Palmer,  1895 
Emily  G.  Parker,  1900 
Frank  A.  Parker,  1880 
John  E.  Parker,  1858 
Arthur  C.  Parkhurst,  1897 
Sylvester  B.  Partridge,   1861 
Alva  C.  Peck,  1880     . 
Joseph  A.  Peck,  1898  . 
May  B.  Peck,  1887      . 
Lyman  W.  Peet,  1861  . 
Harlan  S.  Perrigo,  1870 
Erastus  H.  Phelps,  1861 
Lawrence  Phelps,  1875 
Leroy  M.  Pierce,  1866 
Ira  E.  Pinney,  1891     . 


Rutland,  Vt. 
Cohoes,  N.  Y. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Sterling,  Mass. 
Glens  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Chazy,  N.  Y. 
Catskill,  N.  Y. 
Boston,  Mass. 
New  Haven,  Vt. 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Camden,  N.  Y. 
Durham,  N.  H. 

Norwich,  Vt. 
Chicago,  111. 
Norwich,  Vt. 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Portland,  Me. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Round  Lake,  N.  Y. 
West  Rutland,  Vt. 
Whiting,  Vt. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Worcester,  Mass. 
Swatow,  China. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Chicago,  111. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Cornwall,  Vt. 
Potsdam,  N.  Y. 
Fair  Haven,  Vt. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Medfield,  Mass. 
Washburn,  No.  Dak. 


A  REGISTER 


285 


Mary  O.  Pollard,  1896  . 
M.  Grace  Potter,  1899  . 
Harry  P.  Powers,  1882   . 
Charles  E.  Prentiss,  1864 
Charles  W.  Prentiss,  1896 
Samuel  J.  Preston,  1882  . 

Leslie  H.  Raine,  1889 
Jeremiah  E.  Rankin,  1848 
Bertha  E.  Ranslow,  1894 
Eugene  J.  Ranslow,  1866 
Lauren  Redfield,  1857  . 
Daniel  G.  Reilly,  1891  . 
George  H.  Remele,  1872 
William  A.  Remele,  1876 
Joel  T.  Rice,  1853  .  . 
Norman  F.  Rider,  1862  . 
Flora  C.  Rock  wood,  1897 
Edward  M.  Roscoe,  1896 
Lena  M.  Roseman,  1896  . 
Carroll  B.  Ross,  1882  . 
Charles  L.  Ross,  1895 
Eleanor  S.  Ross,  1895 
Henry  H.  Ross,  1872  .  . 
Lucretius  D.  Ross,  1852  . 
Lucretius  H.  Ross,  1890 . 
Paul  G.  Ross,  1893  .  . 
Willis  M.  Ross,  1886  .  . 
Leroy  C.  Russell,  1897   . 

Sarah  Scoles,  1899  .  . 
George  D.  Scoit,  1895  . 
George  R.  W.  Scott,  1864 
Herman  D.  Sears,  1898  . 
Francis  H.  Seeley,  1863  . 
Henry  H.  Seely,  1894     . 


Ludlow,  Vt. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Proctor,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Mamaroneck,  N.  Y. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Swanton,  Vt. 
Swanton,  Vt. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Dayton,  O. 
West  Medford,  Mass. 
Bridgewater,  Vt. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Bristol,  Vt. 
East  Middlebury,  Vt. 
Waterbury,  Vt. 
Bristol,  Vt. 
West  Rutland,  Vt. 
Hoosick  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Poultney,  Vt. 
Bennington,  Vt. 
Poultney,  Vt. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Leverett,  Mass. 
Newton,  Mass. 
Newton,  Mass. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Delhi,  N.  Y. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 


286 


MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 


LocKwooD  M.  Seely,  1895 
H.  Elroy  Sessions,  1898  . 
Milton  L.  Severance,  1859 
Louis  W.  Severy,  1900 
Annah  B.  Sheldon,  1892  . 
Samuel  Sheldon,  1883 
Bernis  W.  Sherman,  1890 
Elijah  B.  Sherman,  i860 
Linus  E.  Sherman,  1861  . 
William  R.  Shipman,  1859 
David  K.  Simonds,  1862 
Abner  Smith,  1866  .     . 
Alice  M.  Smhh,  1900  . 
Clayton  O.  Smith,  1899 
Nathan  B.  Smith,  1863 
Lucy  W.  Southwick,  1899 

HiLAND    SOUTHWORTH,    1 8  75 

Austin  O.  Spoor,  1874 
Andrew  T.  Stapleton,  1877 
James  E.  Stapleton,  1870 
Jesse  Stearns,  1883      .     . 
Charles  G.  Steele,  i860 
Harriette  H.  Steele,   1895 
John  E.  Stetson,  1900 
John  W.  Stewart,   1846 
Charles  F.  Stone,  1869 
Edward  P.  Stone,  1853 
George  W.  Stone,  1899 
Annis  M.  Sturges,  1899 
Byron  Sunderland,  1838 
Fanny  M.  Sutton,  1898 
Edward  Y.  Swift,  1850 
Frederick  G.  Swinington,  1875 

Beatrice  K.  Taft,  1900   .     . 
Winifred  L.  Taft,  1900  .     . 


.  East  Orange,  N.  J. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  Bristol,  Vt. 

.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

.  Chicago,  111. 

.  Chicago,  111. 

.  Colorado  Springs,  Col. 

.  Somerville,  Mass. 

.  Manchester,  Vt. 

.  Chicago,  111. 

.  Hyde  Park,  Mass. 

.  Willsboro,  N.  Y. 

".  Pulaski,  N.  Y. 

.  Worcester,  Mass. 

.  Abilene,  Kas. 

.  Winooski,  Vt. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  New  York,  N.  Y. 

.  Boston,  Mass. 

.  Boston,  Mass. 

.  Hanover,  Mass. 

.  Middlebury,  Vt. 

.  Laconia,  N.  H. 

.  Lapeer,  Mich. 

.  Newton,  N.  J. 

.  Centreville,  Mass. 

.  Washington,  D.  C. 

.  Shelburne,  Vt. 

.  Detroit,  Mich. 

.  Rutland,  Vt. 

.  Greenville,  N.  H. 

.  Greenville,  N.  H. 


A   REGISTER 


287 


James  Ten  Broeke,  1884  . 
Allen  Tenny,  1856  .  . 
Chandler  N.  Thomas,  1861 
Grace  S.  Thomas,  1891  . 
John  M.  Thomas,  1890  . 
Charles  B.  Toleman,  1894 
Elijah  M.  Torrey,  1854  . 
Willis  I.  Twitchell,  1877 

Albert  W.  Varney,  1886. 
Bessie  C.  Verder,  1898  . 
Blanche  A.  Verder,  1895 
Hedley  a.  Vicker,  1895  . 

RuFUS  Wainwright,  1852  . 
RuFUS  Wainwright,  Jr.,  1899 
Aldace  F.  Walker,  1862  . 
Edgar  L.  Walker,  1872   . 
Frederick  H.  Walker,  1891 
Henry  F.  Walker,  i860  . 
Charles  B.  Warner,  1877 
Ernest  J.  Waterman,  1899 
Emma  P.  Way,  1900     .     . 
Benjamin  M.  Weld,  1877. 
John  G.  Wellington,  1838 
Harry  E.  Wells,  1894     . 
Theodore  D.  Wells,  1898 
Charles  E.  Wheeler,  1900 
Joel  T.  Whitney,  1868     . 
LuELLA  C.  Whitney,  1898 
Marcus  D.  Whitney,  1897 
Charles  M.  Wilds,  1875  . 
John  K.  Williams,  i860    . 
A.  Bush  Willmarth,  1900 
Orlando  Wooster,  1844  . 
Belle  E.  Wright,  1900    . 


Toronto,  Canada. 
Providence,  R.  I. 
Bristol,  Vt. 
East  Orange,  N.  J. 
East  Orange,  N.  J. 
Little  Britain,  N.  Y. 
East  Dorset,  Vt. 
Hartford,  Conn. 

Burlington,  Vt. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
Sennett,  N.  Y. 

Middlebury,  Vt. 
Montreal,  Canada. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
North  Blenheim,  N.  Y. 
Burlington,  Vt. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Port  Henry,  N.  Y. 
Brattleboro,  Vt. 
Manchester,  Vt. 
New  Haven,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Sidney,  N.  Y. 
Eldred,  N.  Y. 
So.  Ashburnham,  Mass. 
Hyde  Park,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt.      ' 
Peacham,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Rutland,  Vt. 
New  Haven,  Vt. 


288 


MIDDLEBURY   COLLEGE 


George  M.Wright,  1874. 
George  S.  Wright,  1895  . 


New  York,  N.  Y. 
Bethel,  Vt. 


NON- GRADUATES. 


George  H.  Bailey,  1864  .  . 
Frank  L.  Bell,  1891  .  .  . 
J.  Edwy  BuiTOLPH,  1882  .     . 

Thaddeus  M.  Chapman,  1866 
Louise  E.  Clift,  1887  .  .  . 
S.  B.  M.  Cowles,  1858     .     . 

Alonzo  B.  Hepburn,  187  i  . 
Ola  R.  Houghton,  1900  .  . 
Olive  B.  Houghton,  1900     . 

Julia  E.  Leavenworth,  1884 

Edward  J.  Mathews,  1850 
Charles  D.  Mead,  1851    . 

Edwin  F.  Preston,  1884  . 

Walter  L.  Sheldon,  1880 
William  H.  Sheldon,  1880 


May  B.  Taylor,  1896 


Frank  H.  Warner,  1881  . 
Ethel  L.  Waterman,  1899 


Ferrisburg,  Vt. 
Glens  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 

Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
New  Haven,  Vt. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 

Cleveland,  O. 

Middlebury,  Vt. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 

Ticonderoga,  N.  Y, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Middlebury,  Vt. 

Middlebury,  Vt. 

West  Cornwall,  Vt. 
Brattleboro,  Vt. 


INDEX 


Adams,  Charles  B.,  217 
Aiken,  Samuel  C,  53,  54 
Albee,  Solon,  43 
Albee,  Sumner,  43 
Allen,  Charles  L.,  66 
Allen,  Ira  M.,  50, 64 
Allen,  Jonathan  A.,  66 
Alumni  Meeting,  2,  5 
Anniversary  Address,  2,  4,  32 
Atwater,  Jeremiah,  36,  38,  257 
Atwood,  Oscar,  12 

Baccalaureate  Services,  2,  4,  16 

Barrett,  Joseph  H.,  67 

Barton,  James  L.,  i,  4,  51,  264,  265 

Bascom,  William  F.,  258 

Bass,  William  M.,  15,  66 

Bates,  Joshua,  36,  42,  70,  75,  218 

Battell,  Philip,  73 

Beckwith,  George  C,  50 

Beman,  Carlisle  P.,  61 

Beman,  Nathan  S.  S.,  35,  37,  39,  45^ 

49»  53.  55>  56.  67,  68,  71,  76 
Bennett,  Henry  W.,  63,  207 
Bingham,  Hiram,  59,  265,  266 
Blake,  Clarence  E.,  67 
Blanchard,  Jonathan,  52,  53 
Boardman,  George  N.,  11,  70,  237, 

256,  272 
Boardman,  Samuel  W.,  2,  4,  32 
Brainerd,  Ezra,  i,  2,  3,  4,  5,  7,  9,  16, 

63,  no,  238,  244,  251,  263,  273,  276 
Bryant,  Ernest  C,  i 
Buckham,  Matthew  H.,  3,  6,  10,  11, 

12,  III,  142,  236 

19  2i 


Buel,  Alexander  W.,  75 
Burge,  Caleb,  71 
Burnap,  Uzziah  C,  6^ 
Burt,  Edwin  A.,  i 
Butler,  James  D.,  75,  251 
Button,  William  Harvey,  64 
Button,  William  Henry,  i 

Cadwell,  Miles  P.  S.,  (>^ 

Capen,  Samuel  B.,  10,  11,  12,  263 

Carter,  Franklin,  3,  6,   11,   12,  in, 

126,  226,  240 
Caswell,  Jesse,  52 
Centennial  Ball,  4,  11 
Centennial  Hymn,  8 
Centennial  Oration,  4,  183 
Centennial  Poem,  4,  216 
Chamberlain,  Hiram,  53,  56 
Chapin,  Walter,  50 
Chapman,  Thad.  M.,  5 
Chase,  Benjamin,  50,  56,  61 
Chase,  Ira,  45,  70 
Chickering,  John  W.,  51,  54 
Chipman,  Daniel,  35,  36,  41,  65 
Chipman,  Nathaniel,  65 
Church,  Alonzo,  61 
Churchill,  John  C,  44 
Clark,  Charles  C.  P.,  66,  6^ 
Cleveland,  Charles,  52 
Commencement  Exercises,  3,  5 
Committees  of  the  Centennial,  i 
Conant,  Samuel  M.,  64 
Conant,  Thomas  J.,  45,  67,  70,  ']'^ 
Converse,  John  R.,  63 
Cook,  William  D.,  52 


290 


INDEX 


Cossitt,  Franceway  R.,  6 
Crane,  Albert  A.,  6^ 
Cutter,  Nehemiah,  66 

Davis,  Henry,  36,  42,  243 
Dedication  of  the  Egbert  Starr  Li- 
brary, 5 
Dedicatory  Address,  81 
Dedicatory  Hymn,  6 
Denio,  Francis  B,,  71 
Dickinson,  John,  2,  63 
Dickson,  John,  51 
Dorland,  Luke,  52 
Douglas,  Orson,  50 
Drake,  Cyrus  B.,  54 
Drama,  Roman,  i,  3,  7,  166 
D wight,  Timothy,  36,  47,  48,  230, 231 

Eaton,  Henry  A.,  63 

Eaton,  Horace,  66,  73 

Eaton,  William  W.,  i 

Eddy,  Merritt  H.,  66 

Educational  Conference,  3,  6,  103- 

165 
Evarts,  James,  46 
Evarts,  Jeremiah,  46 

Farnsworth,  Wilson  A.,  13,  108 
Fisk,  Pliny,  56,  57,  58,  64 
Fitch,  Chauncey  W.,  60 
Flagg,  Rufus  C,  6 
Follett,  Walter,  50 
Foot,  Daniel,  35 
Foot,  Solomon,  62 
Fowler,  William  C,  217 

Gifford,  James  M.,  11,  276 
Gildersleeve,  Benjamin,  $6 
Goodrich,  Charles,  $4 
Gorham,  Daniel  D.,  61 
Gowdy,  Ralph,  66 
Green,  Beriah,  52 
Guitteau,  Sheridan,  50 

Haines,  Charles  G.,  64 
Hall,  Daniel,  36,  49 


Hall,  Edwin,  70,  71 

Hallock,  Edward  J.,  61 

Hamlin,  Cyrus,  4,   11,  12,  219,  262, 

263 
Hascall,  Daniel,  71 
Hatfield,  Edwin  F.,  50,  53,  66,  67 
Hemenway,  Lewis  H.,  66 
Henckels,  Theodore,  i,  8 
Henry,  Thomas  C,  53,  55,  56,  64 
Henshaw,  John  P.  K.,  44,  56,  71 
Higley,  Edwin  H.,  i,  4,  8,  216 
Hitchcock,  Calvin,  54 
Holmes,  Richard  S.,  8,  11,273 
Hooker,  Henry  B.,  50 
Hooker,  Herman,  71 
Hopkins,  Daniel,  38 
Haugh,  John,  36,  42,  58,  65,  75,  217, 

258 
Howard,  Walter  E.,  i,  4, 8,  183 
Howard,  William  A.,  52 
Howe,  George,  45,  54,  56,  70 
Howe,  Henry,  60 
Hoyt,  Otto  S.,  50 
Hoyt,  Ova  P.,  50 
Hudson,  Henry  N.,  67 
Hulbert,  Henry  W.,  9 
Hulburd,  Calvin  T.,  44 
Hurd,  Albert,  61 

Ide,  George  B.,  45,  53 

James,  Edwin,  52 

Keith,  Renel,  56,  58 

Kellogg,  Brainerd,  3,  5,  67,  81,  220, 

247 
Kelly,  Hall  J.,  52 
Kimball,  David  T.,  51 
Kitchel,  Cornelius  L.,  11,  12,  232 
Kitchel,  Harvey  D.,  12,  53 
Knapp,  George  C,  59 

Labaree,  Benjamin,  73,  75,  218,  256, 

258,  259,  260,  261,  264 
Labaree,  John  C,  11,  272,  273 


INDEX 


291 


Lamed,  Sylvester,  53,  55,  56,64, 68 
Linsley,  Joel  H.,  53 
Long,  Alfred  J.,  66 
Luncheon,  i,  4,  10,  222-278 

Matthews,  Darius,  35 
McCullough,  John   G.,    10,   11,    12, 

268 
McGilton,  William  W.,  i 
Meacham,  James,  73,  260 
Mead,  Charles  M.,  i,  11,  68,  70,222 
Mead,  Hiram,  87,  70 
Means,  D.  McGregor,  12 
Merrill,  Thomas  A.,  36 
Messer,  Asa,  56 
Miller,  Samuel,  35,  37 
Morton,  Daniel  O.,  56,  67 
Morton,  Levi  P.,  58 
Munger,  Eber  D.,  64 
Murkland,  Charles  S.,  3,  6,  9,  112 

Nelson,  Samuel,  40,  49 
Northrop,  Allen  P.,  61 

Olin,  Stephen,  45,  49,  53,  55,  56,  76 
Ordway,  Moses,  52 
Owen,  John  J.,  67,  68,  73 

Painter,  Gamaliel,  35,  37,  217 
Parker,  J.  Earle,  2 
Parker,  William  H.,  73,  219 
Parsons,  Levi,  56,  57,  58,  64 
Partridge,  Sylvester  B.,  5,  59 
Patton,  Robert  B.,  73 
Patton,  William,  50,  53,  54 
Pearson,  Thomas  S.,  43,  64 
Peet,  Lyman  B.,  59 
Petty,  Aaron,  33 

Phelps,  Edward  J.,  11,  40,  46,  49,64, 
75,  107,  251,  252,  261,  269,  270,  271 
Phelps,  Samuel  S.,  36,  64 
Phillips,  George  W.,  12 
Pierce,  James  E.,  64 
Piatt,  James  K.,  66 
Post,  Martin  M.,  54 


Post,  Reuben,  53,  54,  56 

Post,  Truman  M.,  45,  53,  54,  55,  56, 

73,  76,  106 
Proctor,  Redfield,  12 
Programme  of  the  Centennial,  2 

Ralph,  Julian,  5 

Rankin,  Jeremiah  E.,  3,  6,  8,  13,  56, 

62,  67,  103 
Reception,  President's,  3,  7 
Register,  279 
Rhodes,  Holden,  56 
Robbins,  Rensselaer  D.  C,  67,  68, 

73 
Roberts,  Daniel,  49,  65,  75 
Roosevelt,  Washington,  51 
Root,  David,  51 
Ross,  Lucretius  D.,  66 

Sanford,  Myron  R.,  i,  3,  7 

Sawyer,  Thomas  J.,  45,  53,  70,  76 

Saxe,  John  G.,  67, 75,  250, 251 

Scott,  George  R.  W.,  5 

Seeley,  Francis  H.,  9 

Seely,  Henry  M.,  220 

Seymour,  Charles  R.,  12 

Seymour,  Horatio,  36 

Sheldon,  Luther,  54 

Sheldon,  Samuel,  247,  248 

Shepherd,  Jonathan  A.,  53 

Shipman,  William  R.,  10 

Skinner,  Mark,  76 

Slade,  James  M.,  i 

Slade,  William,  39,  50,  51 

Smart,  George  T.,  9 

Smith,  Daniel,  52 

Smith,  Eli  B.,  70 

Smith,  Edward  C,  11,  12,  224 

Smith,  Henry,  53,  67,  68,  70,  73 

Snow,    Henry    S.,    10,   IT,    12,    247, 

248 
Spaulding,  John,  50 
Sprague,  Isaac  N.,  54 
Squier,  Miles  P.,  50,  60,  71 
Starr,  Charles,  loi 


292 


INDEX 


Starr,  Egbert,  loi 

Starr,  M.  Allen,  loi 

Starr,  Peter,  36 

Steele,  John  B.,  54 

Stewart,  John  W.,  i,  4,  8,   11,  171, 

223  ff 
Stoddard,  Solomon,  42 
Stone,  Benjamin  C,  50 
Stone,  James  A.  B.,  70 
Storrs,  Seth,  35,  36,  37,  46 
Stowell,  Henry,  52 
Sunderland,   Byron,  10,    11,  54,    56, 

250,  251 
Swift,  Samuel,  36,  64 

Tenny,  Erdix,  54 

Thompson,  Daniel  P.,  67 

Thompson,  John,  53 

Tower,  David  B,,  67 

Town,  Salem,  39,  60,  67 

Tucker,  William  J.,  3,  8,  12, 11 1,  154, 

227,  258 
Turner,  Edward,  217 

Upsala,  University  of,  12 


Vail,  Henry  H.,  i 

Wadhams,  Edgar  P.,  44,  45 

Walker,  Aldace  F.,  11,  274 

Walker,  Henry  F.,  66 

Walker,  Stephen  A.,  61 

Warren,  Edward,  58 

Whitaker,  Ozi  W.,  45 

Wilcox,  Carlos,  53,  55,  64 

Wilds,  Charles  M.,  i 

Willard,  Emma,  68 

Williamson,  John,  63 

Williston,  Sarah  Stoddard,  5 

Winchester,  Warren  W.,  71 

Wines,  Enoch  C,  51,  53 

Wing,  Marcus  T.  C,  70 

Winslow,  Miron,  12,  56,  58,  59,  246, 

265 
Winslow,  William  C,  11,  12,  244 
Witham,  Charles,  169,  170 
Wright,  Charles  B.,  i,  6 
Wright, -John  H.,  11,  12,  226,  227 
Wright,  Norman  F.,  61 
Wright,  Silas,  40,  44,  45,  49,  106 
Wright,  Truman  K.,  61 


^^3Sy, 


/ 


t^XA  l^iou,  rU 


YD  22329 


